The Final Battle
by Archer Princess
Summary: The Grimms must face the consequences of their ancestors. The freedom that the barrier brutally took away. Now those that were their friends are their enemies. Suitable for teens. Violence, torture, betrayal, and fluff present. SPOILERS, MORE INFO INSIDE.
1. Chapter 1

_IMPORTANT NOTES_

_1. This story will take on some darker plots. Violence, torture, character death, betrayal, etc._

_2. . SPOILERS FOR ALL BOOKS AHEAD! If you have not finished the series, read at your own risk!_

_3. Expect drama, fluff, Puck/Sabrina, Jake/Briar, Henry/Veronica, Charming/Snow, and some others._

_4. This is begins after the events of book 6, and the plot will wind in and out of what Michael Buckley wrote in books 7-9._

_Beta-read by Vanimalion_

_DISCLAIMER: I, unfortunately, do not own anything other then the plot. That incredible honor goes to Mr. Michael Buckley himself. If I did own it, I would be sitting on a yacht in the middle of the Caribbean, sipping lemonade. As it is, I am actually on my bed, now wishing it wasn't raining and that I had some lemonade._

_**And now, on to Ferryport Landing!**_

**...**

**The Final Battle**

**Chapter One**

"Hey stinkpot! What happened to you? You look like something a vulture would pass over!"

This comment came from a blond fairy with pink wings. He was fluttering around a silent girl, swinging a wooden sword. Both looked about 14. The girl was tall, her long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. She looked unhealthily thin, and the sword she held looked almost too big for her body. Her bright blue eyes were squinted with concentration, but she made no sign that she had heard the insult.

The fairy frowned "Did you not hear me Grimm? I just insulted you." Still, the girl stayed silent.

Silence was the newest tactic that Sabrina Grimm was trying. In the weeks leading up to this fight, she had lost repeatedly to the teenaged fairy. The so-called Trickster King had had over four-thousand years to practice his sword fighting, and she had barely been fighting for three.

Puck, puzzled, threw another insult at his opponent. "Sword fighting is obviously not your strength. It's a good thing I'm always there to save your sorry behind, eh Ugly?"

Again, Sabrina stayed silent, although it was killing her. She longed to respond to the boy who tried to make her life a living hell. _'Just a bit longer… After I win I can get him back!'_ A small smile crept onto her face. She had been waiting for this day for a very long time.

"What are you smiling at Grimm? My pure talent? My handsome visage?" Sabrina bit back the retort, a comment about his finally learning a big word, possibly asking if he had managed to count to ten yet.

Puck glared at her. He swung his sword forward, but she blocked him. Again. He scowled, but then his face lit up. "Hey Sabrina!"

She stumbled. He had never ever called her by her first name before. It had thrown her off guard. She recovered, just barely managing to block his next attack. Mentally kicking herself, she attacked with desperation. She needed the upper hand, but Puck was defending himself effortlessly.

"Grimm? You look absolutely–" He is cut off by an attempted slice. Blocking it he resumed "–beautiful today. You should do your hair like that more often. It reminds me of the day you kissed me."

Sabrina froze, and Puck disarmed her. Crowing with triumph, he flipped her sword into his other hand. "You know, Ugly, you should not be thrown by comments that are so obviously untrue!"

Sabrina, equally mad at herself and Puck, snatches her sword away from him. "Obviously untrue?" She snarled, "Ha! I'm not the one that continually compliments myself! You have such a low opinion of yourself, you feel pressured to tell everyone how great you–" She snatched up her backpack, turning to leave, "–THINK you are! And I did NOT–" She turns back to him, "–kiss you! You did that on your own!" She stormed out of the magical room.

Staring after her in amazement, Puck collected his backpack. He slowly followed her out of his bedroom.

**...**

Sitting on her bed, Sabrina glared out of the window. She could see the forest where Puck had lived before he moved into the Grimm house. _'I wish he would go back there!'_

But did she really want that? She though about all the times he had saved her "sorry behind", all of their adventures. Tracking a giant, deactivating a huge robotic Wicked Witch of the West, taming the Big Bad Wolf… _'No,'_ she thought, _'I would not change it. Nor do I really want him to go away.'_ She flushed as she remembered the kiss that Puck had brought up. It had not been exactly romantic, being surrounded by chimpanzees and all, but there had been fireworks, both literally and figuratively._ 'If given the chance, would I pick anybody else to be my first kiss? No. I guess I would always choose Puck.' _The color in her cheeks rose, and she shook herself. She did NOT like Puck in that way. She hated that he had been able to twist her emotions while sparring earlier.

Trying to distract herself from the image of Puck that was pulsing through her mind, she pulled out her Great-Great-Great Aunt Doris's journal. Doris had been an expert on sleeping spells, and Sabrina had been pouring through it, taking anything that might be considered helpful. She was just getting into a particular entry on magical sleeping pills and their cure, when the doorbell rang. She slowly got up and walked to her bedroom door. Opening it, she saw Puck sidling out of his own room.

"Great. Are you getting the door?" she snapped at him, knowing his answer.

He grinned and shook his head. "Naw, I think you should. But I'm here to protect you."

She turned on her heel and stalked down the stairs. "What, you think that the Master will be at the door, ready to kill me?"

"You never know." He shrugged, "When you answered the door a few weeks ago, you opened it to Nottingham's drawn sword. He nearly made a Grimm shish kebob, and only my extreme talent–" a glare from Sabrina cut off his self promotion.

Sabrina opened the door, and her jaw dropped. Outside was a woman. She had curly blonde hair and dazzlingly blue eyes. Her face was round and tanned, with dimples in her cheeks and a dainty nose, sprinkled with freckles. She wore a pale blue dress with tiny pink flowers dotting it. All in all, she would have looked like a grown up six year-old, if not for her timeless eyes.

"G–g–g…" Sabrina stammered.

"Grimm, have you swallowed your tong–" Puck stopped, staring at the woman. Even he recognized her; Mirror had been reflecting her for several years.

"Goldilocks!" He gasped. Sabrina stood frozen, staring, mouth open, at the woman on the porch.

"Hello." Her voice was high, tinkling. "You must be Sabrina Grimm? I am here to save your father."

…**.**

_Did you like it? Please review! How was it? What can I do better? What didn't you like? All types of feedback are loved, and let me know if you find any mistakes. I shall endeavor to correct them!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Oh. My. Gosh! Reviews! They were the cause of this "random" giddiness that I was feeling as they came in! Yay! I really like feeling that happy so… Review? Please? _

_**And now, back to Ferryport Landing!**_

**...**

**The Final Battle**

**Chapter Two**

_**THREE YEARS EARLIER**_

"Granny! I want to go! She is the only one that can save them! Mirror said so! Ms. Lancaster said so!" Sabrina was close to tears.

"I know liebling. I want to go too. But–"

"No buts! Why can't I go?"

"Granny, if 'Brina gets to go, I want to go too!"

The cries filled the kitchen. Granny had told Sabrina and Daphne that they were not allowed to go with Jake on the trip to find Goldilocks. The protesting had gone on for days, but it had reached the climax that afternoon. Jake would be leaving after dinner, so the girls were getting desperate.

Granny shook her head. "Lieblings, I cannot let you go! It may be dangerous! We already know that the Scarlet Hand is not contained inside the Barrier! Already you have been attacked by the Black Knight, and who knows how many others have been turned!"

Jake sided with his mother. "Girls, Mom is right. You can't come with me. I have had a few decades worth of training in magical protection. Sabrina hasn't had it because of her addiction," Sabrina shifted uncomfortably, "and Daphne, as much as you'll hate to hear it… Kiddo, you are ten. I know you both have faced horrible things in all those foster homes–"

"And a giant! And a jabberwocky, and some dragons, and–"

Jake held up his hand to stop Daphne. "And a giant, a jabberwocky, and some dragons. However… Peanut, the Scarlet Hand has already proven themselves worse."

"Uncle Jake, Granny, what if Daphne and I are the only ones that can convince Goldilocks to come back? The fact that she is the cure is proof enough that she still loves Dad. We have all watched enough TV to know that she won't want to risk seeing him. We are living proof that he isn't the only one affected!"

Granny and Jake exchanged a glance. "We have thought of this already, lieblings. Jacob thought that maybe you would write Goldie a letter explaining what has happened to you. He can give it to her when he sees her."

Sabrina and Daphne looked at each other. Sabrina deflated; they could see that this was one argument they had no hope of winning. They turned back to their grandmother, and nodded.

"Excellent! You two take your time, and I will go finish packing. I have to make a few calls, see if some of my old friends will let me crash at their place in London. After them, I suppose I could call up Gerda and Kai… Hmm, maybe Robbie would let me stay with her in Tokyo."

"Jacob, Gerda and Kai moved back here to join up with Charming. I sent them a letter telling them what was going on here, and they thought that their powerful love would be a nice addition to the protection spells around Fort Charming."

"Fort Charming? Is that really what they are calling it?"

Sabrina's question, however, was masked by Daphne's much louder "Who is Robbie?"

"Oh, Robbie is Roberta Miller." Jake, seeing that she was still confused, elaborated. "I keep forgetting that Hank never told you anything. Roberta Miller is the girl from 'The Robber Bridegroom'. You familiar with that story?"

Sabrina frowned. "I always though that she was kind of stupid. I mean, she continued down the path, ignoring the birds telling her to go back, and then an old woman hid her behind a barrel. And she didn't even have a reaction to a severed hand landing in her lap!"

Granny laughed. "Yes, in the published version. You should read the original tale in your Great-Great-Great…Great Grandfather Vincent's journal. Still silly, but much more exciting. Robbie is a little ditzy, and has never been very quick on the uptake." She smiled, pointing at a picture of a woman actively tripping. She was still totally engrossed in her book, even as she fell to the ground. "She was very surprised to find herself in a mud puddle about a minute after your Opa Basil took that picture. Anyway… lieblings, why don't you two go write your letter, and then I will need your help making dinner. Jacob, why don't you call up Princess One-Eye, and see if she might be able to lead you through Tokyo…"

"One-Eye? Huh?" Daphne didn't read as fast as Sabrina, so she still hadn't read the story of One-Eye, Two Eyes, and Three-Eyes.

Sabrina pulled Daphne out of the kitchen, leaving their grandmother giving Jake instructions.

…

_Dear Ms. Locks,_

_My name is Sabrina Grimm, and I am Henry Grimm's oldest daughter._

_Dear Goldie,_

_Hello, I hope that your vacationing is going splendidly. Did you enjoy Paris? How about Rome?_

…

Daphne scowled. "Sabrina Grimm, you are not including me! This letter is from both of us, write it that way!"

"Daphne, you are drawing unicorns and rainbows on Granny's special stationary! Don't tell me what to do!"

Daphne looked hurt and turned away, huffing as she put the unused paper back into its box. She sat pouting as Sabrina tried again.

_Dear Ms. Locks_, Sabrina wrote.

"Daphne?"

"Hmumph."

"I'm sorry."

"Hmumph!"

"Will you please help me write the letter to Ms. Locks?"

Daphne turned back with a gigantic smile. "Sure! Only, I think you should call her Goldilocks. Wait, I'll get my thesaurus! We can sound smart!" She dashed out of Sabrina's bedroom.

Sabrina smiled and crumpled up the now ruined stationary. She got out a new piece as Daphne reentered the room.

…

_Dear Goldilocks,_

_We hope we find you well. Our names are Sabrina and Daphne Grimm. We are Jacob's nieces, and Henry and Veronica's daughters. Five years ago, our parents were kidnapped by the mysterious group known as the Scarlet Hand. After being placed in foster home after foster home, our grandmother, Relda Grimm, finally located us and brought us to Ferryport Landing. Here we have been caught up in the usual activities: giants, princesses, talking animals, the works. Two years ago, we defeated the jabberwocky that terrorized the town after your departure. We also rescued our parents. The problem is that they are asleep. It is the sleeping spell used on Briar Rose and injected into Ms. White's poisoned apple. As you probably know, the only way to break the spell is a kiss from someone who truly loves them. This is the problem. They are both asleep, and for the longest time we thought that they could only wake each other up. However, a few months after the jabberwocky's death, one Bunny Lancaster, alias the Wicked Queen, paid us a visit. She "fixed" Mirror so that he could show us the back door out of the spell, and you are the back door. As much as it may pain you, you must come back to Ferryport Landing and wake up our parents. Please, we beg you. The last five years have been awful for us. For a while, we thought that they had abandoned us, and now we barely have them back. Please come and save our family._

_Sincerely,_

_Sabrina Grimm_

_Daphne Grimm_

…

Jacob Grimm had traveled throughout Europe with no success. It wasn't until he started searching through Asia that he located Goldilocks in a secluded Hotel in Tokyo. She had been very wary of him, but after he proved that he had no harmful intentions toward her, she became her old cheery self. They went out on a few tours, and it wasn't until she was packing to move on to her next destination that he brought Henry up.

"Goldie… As much fun as this has been, I do have an actual reason that I tracked you down."

Goldie straightened up over her suitcase. "I knew that it had been no accident, Jakey. I keep on the move so much, only you could have found the means to find me." She paused, her big blue eyes staring at Jake fearfully. "Are… are you going to take me back?"

"I… I would like you to come back. There is a… situation, back in Ferryport Landing, that requires your assistance."

"Jake… Is Henry okay? Oh god, is he hurt? Jake!" Her eyes shone with tears. It was clear that she was still in love with Henry, and that she really was the cure for the spell.

"Goldie! Hank is fine… or will be if you come home. He and Veronica–"

"So he did marry her." Her face had a dead expression.

Jake hesitated, but decided that it would be best to be honest. "Yes. They got married about a year and a half after you left."

"Is he happy with her?"

"Yes."

"Then that is all that matters." Goldie turned away, wiping away a tear as she reached for another dress.

Jake took hold of the same dress. "Goldie, he is happy. But he is under a spell! He is asleep, and only–"

"Only a kiss from someone who truly loves him will wake him." She was silent for a moment, before whispering, "Why can't V–Veronica wake him? Surely she loves him…?"

"She would be the perfect cure if she wasn't also asleep. Goldie," he let go of the dress. "You must come back. There is a war brewing, and we need Henry and Veronica awake."

"I can't go back Jake. It's full of too many hurtful memories. Too many people paid to get me out before, Jacob, and are still paying. Did your mother remarry? No. Because Basil was the only one she could ever love, ever marry. And he is dead because of me. I can't go back." Her harsh words made Jake wince, but her eyes were still full of tears.

Jake looked at her. He knew then that Goldie would not return. Knew then that perhaps Sabrina had been right in saying that only the daughters of Henry Grimm could get her to go back… The letter!

After a long silence, he finally spoke. "Fine. We will continue to search for someone, or something, that can save my brother and his wife." Putting his hand into his pocket, his rough hands grasped the letter. "Goldie, please don't cry." He pleaded, handing her a handkerchief.

Wiping here eyes, she stepped into the bathroom to clean up. He slipped the letter from Sabrina and Daphne out of his pocket, and stared at it. The envelope merely said "Ms. Goldilocks" on it. Praying that this letter would be found soon, he stood up and placed it under the stacks of dresses already in the suitcase.

When Goldie came back out of the bathroom, Jake told her that he was leaving. "Goldie, if you cannot come back now... Please remember that it will never, ever be too late to save Hank and Veronica from this spell." And with that, he left. He didn't even say goodbye.

Goldie looked at the closed door, hiding the man that looked so much like Henry. Tears gathering in her eyes, she pulled a picture out of her purse. It was of her and Henry. They both had rosy cheeks from the snowy weather, but their eyes were warm. They looked at each other, practically glowing with love.

A tear rolled down her cheek and landed upon the already tearstained picture.

…

_**PRESENT**_

"But why are you here? Jake said that you didn't want to come back!" Sabrina leaned against the doorframe, staring at the woman who had once been her father's girlfriend.

"I found this a few months later." Goldilocks pulled out the letter, worn out from being read so many times. "He put it into the bag where I keep my warmer dresses. I didn't need it in Hawaii, Belize, or Jamaica. It wasn't until I got to Nepal that I found it."

"Do you realize the pain you have caused this family? Every day, I get to hear the Marshmallow talk about all of the amazing things that will happen once her parents are awake. And Ugly here? She hits harder when she is angry. Hits _me_ harder."

Sabrina's eyes widened, and she stared at the fairy. Puck's outburst was completely unexpected. Even his noticing what was going on outside of his own personal fantasy land was an… improvement. _'Who knew he cared? I… wait, Puck cares about how I feel?'_

Goldie stared also. Even though she had been gone for years, she still remembered all the stories about Puck. His determination to stay forever eleven. The constant pranks. This outburst was completely out of character. And at a closer look, she saw that Puck was older. Although she had never met him, she had heard his retreating laugh many times after a prank was set. His voice now was deeper. He was tall, taller than both she and Sabrina, and his muscles were nicely toned from sparring with Sabrina daily.

Puck's cheeks flushed a tad as her saw the two women staring at him. Not knowing what else to do, he sat down in a kitchen chair, putting his faded sneakers up onto the table.

Goldie squealed. Both Puck and Sabrina jumped, staring at the woman. "You can't put those feet in those shoes up on that table! This house is already going against the grain of the Seasons. I mean, who puts a cherry wood table in a brick house? And don't even get me started on the Elements!" She shuddered. "Relda let this place fall into disrepair. She will have to let me set up the Symbols again. She hasn't moved them since… 1992? They were supposed to be rotated in '97, '03, and… '09! They are due for a rotation –following the old pattern– in six– no, eight days. No wonder this house feels…" She trailed off, seeing the expressions of the two teens. "What? It is important for things to be Just Right. It keeps the world in balance, everything in harmony." She smiled expectantly.

Still, they looked stunned. Confused. Sabrina mentally shook herself, saying "Uhm, Ms. Locks– "

Goldie sighed. "Please, call me Goldie."

"Goldie, then. Will you… Are you planning on…? Is the purpose of…? Dad?" Sabrina felt her face grow red. She had started out planning to ask if Goldie could get a move on, but as it turned out, it was not as simple a question as that.

Goldie started. "Oh, yes… Very well." She stopped, staring at her feet. Taking a deep breath, she glanced at Sabrina. "I suppose that it should be done sooner rather than later...?" Sabrina nodded, trying to keep herself from looking too enthusiastic. Goldie looked back at her feet. "I…" Her breath hitched, and Sabrina realized that kissing one's ex-boyfriend to save them must be very nerve-racking. And it probably didn't help to still be very much in love with said ex.

"I… Why don't I take you up to their room…?"

Goldie nodded, obviously trying to keep the tears from falling. Sabrina got up, her knees shaking a little, and slowly left the room. Glancing at Puck, Goldie followed her. Puck slowly brought up the rear, still looking confused with Goldie's "everything in harmony" comment. Sabrina stopped in her room to retrieve the key to the locked bedroom where her parents slept.

Goldie looked around the small bedroom. "This was your father's room."

It wasn't a question. Sabrina looked over at the woman and hesitantly nodded. Goldie rotated slowly on the spot, looking at the model airplanes that still hung from the ceiling. Wanting to get Goldie out of her room before things were rearranged, Sabrina gently nudged the woman, nodding at the door. They exited to find Puck reappearing at the top of the stairs, holding a peanut butter sandwich.

"Whak? I gign't blno how gong dis woulb pake!" Peanut butter spewed from his mouth and onto Sabrina.

Sabrina made a face, wiping peanut butter off of her cheek. "Puck, she is going to give my dad a kiss. It should take about thirty seconds, tops!" She threw a particularly large piece of sandwich back at Puck.

Puck ducked and swallowed with difficulty. "Two things: First, ew! Kissing! And second, thirty seconds? What kind of kiss do you think it will take?"

Goldie blushed, but Sabrina rolled her eyes. "He needs a few moments to wake up, Doris' journal said so. The power of the kiss is dependant on the love and also how recently the said people kissed while both were awake. I did the calculations Doris came up with, and my parents should both be awake in about five minutes!" She looked back at Goldie, suddenly brave. "Come on, I have waited long enough. Can we do this?"

"What's going on? 'Brina? Puck? Why is the kitchen table three feet from where… Goldie!" Jake's voice rang up from downstairs. As soon as he came to the conclusion, he dashed through the house, knocking chairs over. He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He flung his arms around her, saying "I knew you would make the right decision! Come on, they –he– is right over in this room… Hang on; let me go get my key."

As her uncle began digging through the thousands of pockets on his jacket, Sabrina sighed. "I have mine here, Jake" Jake snatched the key from his niece's hand, and Sabrina scowled.

Goldie tilted her head to the side, looked confused "Uhm, why is the door locked?"

Sabrina glared at Puck, who made a disgusting noise and grinned. "Well, a certain _fairyboy_ realize that there were two unprotected people he had yet to play pranks on. I… Well, some of the side effects haven't disappeared yet.

Goldie gave a confused giggle, looking apprehensive. Jake opened the door and flipped on the light.

The small room was brightly lit. It only contained a bed, a table, and a few chairs. The table was littered with many jars and tubes, and there were stacks of books, both Grimm journals and others, scattered on the floor. On the bed lay Henry and Veronica Grimm. Both were pale, as they had not seen the sun in several years. They looked like they were merely sleeping, but for their stillness. They breathed, but never rolled over. Never moved. They each had scarlet handprints covering their shirts; the Grimm family had been too busy finding a cure to change them into new clothes. They lay under a simple sheet.

Goldie took in the whole room, and when her eyes fell on Henry, she burst into tears. Running forward, she fell to her knees next to his side of the bed. Her hands trembled as they reached for Henry's.

"Henry! Oh Henry…" She grasped his hand, tears streaming down her face.

Sabrina looked away. It was hard to see a woman who was not her mother holding Henry's hand. She wanted Goldie to just kiss him and leave, but she knew better than to say so. She instead chewed on her tongue, watching the reactions of Jake and Puck. Jake had a stony face, but his eyes were smoldering. In them, she saw the pain of losing his father, the horror as he had to face the consequences of letting Goldie out. She also saw a little hope. Hope that this woman would wake up Henry, and that Henry would forgive him.

Sabrina looked away from her uncle. The emotions were so deep, so complex, that they did not have the calming effect she was looking for. Instead, she turned to Puck. But she was surprised at the range of emotions that played across his thin face and green eyes. When he saw her staring at him, he gave her a weak smile that didn't reach his eyes. His eyes held a surprising level of sadness and worry.

She looked back at the woman kneeling at her father's side. Suddenly, she felt unsure that this was the way to go, the way to solve all of her problems. _'We need to find a different way. Goldie read our letter and thought that she was causing us too much pain, but I see her now, see her tears, her trembles, and I know that this is breaking her heart.'_ Sabrina opened her mouth to stop the woman who was so deeply in love with her father, but Goldie was already leaning down. The words caught in Sabrina's throat.

Goldie's lips met Henry's. Her eyes snapped open, and she jumped back, hand on her mouth. "Oh! The– It– I–" A look of confusion crossed her face, her right index finger tracing her bottom lip.

The deed done, Sabrina turned to her father, hoping to see his eyes flutter open, his mouth curving up into the crooked smile that she missed so much. She closed her eyes and counted to twenty to calm down. Her eyes snapped open, joy already evident in them.

Nothing happened.

…

_*gasp* I love cliffhangers… Anyway, has a bunch more chapters coming, don't worry. And as I said before, reviews make me happy. My feelings are in your hands! Not meaning to be dramatic but... Well, yes I do. I like being dramatic. Lurvies!_


	3. Chapter 3

_PenguinLoverGirl – Thank you! I love that someone loves what I'm writing! I have let verrrry few people read anything I write. It's a change…_

_mazberrypie – Okay, I guess I never actually mentioned this. While this story is technically set in between books 6 and 7, I made all of the characters 2 years older for the purposes of my story. The flash back to the past went to how old they were when they started looking for Goldie in book… 5, I think. Later plot points made this necessary, but I ain't telling!_

…

**The Final Battle**

**Chapter Two**

_Goldie's lips met Henry's. Her eyes snapped open, and she jumped back, hand on her mouth. "Oh! The– It– I–" A look of confusion crossed her face, her right index finger tracing her bottom lip. _

_The deed done, Sabrina turned to her father, hoping to see his eyes flutter open, his mouth curving up into the crooked smile that she missed so much. She closed her eyes and counted to twenty to calm down. Her eyes snapped open, joy already evident in them._

_Nothing happened._

Sabrina closed her eyes. It hadn't worked. They were still asleep. They would not wake up. The reality of the situation crashing down around her, Sabrina's shoulders slumped, and she blinked back tears.

"But… I felt a spark… It sparked… Jake!" Goldie's shrill voice brought Sabrina out of her thoughts. She opened her eyes, and saw Goldie hovering over Henry's still sleeping body, looking back and forth between the brothers. Tears brimmed in her eyes.

"Goldie." Jake's voice was low with emotion. The sound made Goldie start crying in earnest. "Goldie, it… It's not your fault. How could we have known that it wouldn't work?" He reached out and put his hand on her shaking shoulder. She pulled away. "Goldie…"

The woman wailed and ran from the room. Sabrina bit her lip, still trying to hold back the wave of tears that were building up. She closed her eyes again.

Glancing at Puck, Jake ran after Goldie. Puck could hear him calling for her, trying to reason with the distraught woman. A door slammed, and silence fell in the house. A whimper from next to Puck made him turn. Sabrina had given up trying not to cry, and was now staring at the still sleeping forms of her parents, tears spilling from her eyes. Mechanically, Puck walked to Sabrina and put a hand on her shoulder. He frowned as the shoulder stiffened. Neither Sabrina nor Puck was sure of what was going on. Both stood still, staring at Puck's hand.

Then, all of a sudden, Sabrina turned and began crying onto Puck's shoulder. He stiffened, not sure of what to do. After considering pulling away, he awkwardly put his arms around her. Sabrina's hands knotted his t-shirt.

"I-I-I… I th-thought that-t it w-would work-k-k!" She sobbed. "I r-r-really believed-d that they w-would be aw-w-wake today!"

"S– Grimm." He blinked, having barely caught his mistake. "Grimm," he awkwardly patted her back. "It... It will be okay…?"

The moment was broken. Sabrina pulled her head off of his chest, her bloodshot eyes glaring, tears glistening her cheeks and giving her eyes an angry gleam. "It will be okay? Really? Then why are my parents still ALSEEP?" Her voice dripped with emotion as she pulled even farther away from him. "It will never, EVER, be okay until my mom and dad are AWAKE!" On the last syllable, she pushed puck roughly back.

Puck gasped and stumbled backwards, barely catching himself from falling to the floor. The push had been unexpected. He glared at Sabrina, who had pulled back a fist as if to punch him. She was still, looking back and forth between her fist and Puck. As he opened his mouth, she turned on her heel and stumbled out of the room. He stared after her, his mouth still open.

…

Sabrina slammed her bedroom door behind her. She slid down into a sitting position.

'_Did I do that? I was going to punch Puck after him actually being… nice?_' She groaned and put her head in her hands. Leaning her back against the door, she slid down into a sitting position. Tears dripped into her hands and onto her lap. She could not believe that her parents were not going to wake up. _'They aren't waking up. Mom is still sleeping. Dad is still sleeping. They will stay that way. Because Ms. Lancaster was wrong, she is not the back door. They didn't wake up. Aren't waking up. Not today. Not now. Not ever. They are the cure for each other. They won't wake up.'_

She leaned her head against the door, looking around her room. Daphne had moved out, sleeping in a small cot with Red in Granny's much larger room. After she left, Sabrina had changed the room back to its original state. Her father's desk, once Daphne's dressing table, was once again covered in his old school textbooks. Now, Sabrina and Puck were working through them. The model airplanes the Henry Grimm had put together so carefully were hanging above the desk. The roomy closet was where Sabrina kept all of her things. She had wanted the room to still be her father's room. She had wanted that connection with her father still. Beginning to sob again, Sabrina curled up into a ball on the floor.

It was a snuffling sound that roused her from her thoughts. She looked up. It seemed to be coming from just outside her door. Slowly, she sat up and opened the door. A 200-pound Great Dane pushed his way into the room. Seeing Sabrina, he stepped forward cautiously.

"H-hey Elvis." Sabrina's voice sounded dead. She reached out to the dog. He came forward and sat in front of her, staring intently at her face. Giving him a sad smile, she closed the door again and patted the floor to her left. He lay down, and she curled up next to him. Her head on his side, she felt another wave of tears building up. She let them fall.

Elvis watched her. Sabrina was never one to cry, so the appearance of tears on her face was unnerving the dog as much as they had Puck. He nosed her face, licking a few tears away.

"Ew, gross… Stop it Elvis…" She pushed the dog's head away from her. Affronted, he stood up. She rolled onto the ground, and her head hit the floor. "Ow!" The dog looked back at her before jumping up onto her bed.

Staring at the ceiling, she thought about what Daphne's reaction would be. She knew that the girl would be heartbroken, crying worse than Sabrina. Sighing, Sabrina sat up. She hated seeing her sister upset; it was one of the reasons that she had tried to preserve Daphne's childhood as long as possible. Glancing at Elvis, who was watching her from the bed, she walked over to her closet. Once inside, she pulled open a drawer in her dresser. As she poked around for a clean shirt (the one she was wearing was soaked with tears), she found a bag. Frowning, she pulled it out. It was the bag of make up she had collected when she was twelve. Looking at it, she saw a scrap of paper peeking out of the partially closed pouch. Pulling it out, she saw that it was her mother's business card. Opening that particular compartment, she saw that it also contained the speech that Sabrina had read to the Everafters in New York City. Sabrina stared at the speech, tracing her mother's neat handwriting with her index finger. Another tear dripped off the tip of her nose.

Abandoning the search for a clean shirt, Sabrina folded the papers back up. She tucked the bag back into her dresser. She took the speech back out into her room, where she pulled her Grimm journal out from under her mattress. Opening it, she tucked her mother's speech in between the pages describing their trip to New York City. Closing her journal, she stared at the red leather cover. She began to cry again, Elvis, spooked, thumped down off the bed. Sabrina lay down in his place.

A knock sounded at her door. Sabrina started, staring at the door. It couldn't be Puck, could it? He had been the last person she had seen… No, he wouldn't want to come near her room while she was in such a state of weakness. Then was it Jake, back from chasing Goldie? Come to share the sadness they both felt? Maybe Daphne or Granny, wanting to know what had happened. "Go away!" Sabrina shouted. "I don't want to talk to anyone!" Her voice broke on the last word. She rolled over, away from the door. She pulled her pillow over her head.

Sabrina did not hear the doorknob turn and the door open. She did not hear the footsteps coming across the room. She did not pay any attention to Elvis' soft bark.

Then, someone sat down next to her on the bed. Sabrina rolled over, expecting to harshly tell her uncle or grandmother to go away. However, it was the last person she expected to see. The last person she wanted to yell at.

It was Veronica Grimm.

…

"…and then they lived Grumpily Ever After. Granny, what's for dinner tonight? Can Red and me help? Is Briar coming over? Will Mallowbarb and Buzzflower be with her? What about Snow and Charming? Could we go over to the fort tonight? What about tomorrow? Can I give Elvis a bath? Do you think Puck took a shower like you asked? Red, did you see that his pants are too short again? He looks silly! Do you wanna help me bathe Elvis? I bet we could play dress-up after dinner! I had an idea of what Elvis could wear when…" Daphne's recitation was starting to drag and repeat itself. She already had told Red about Elvis's bath, and Granny had already told her that no, Puck probably had not showered, and yes, she and Red could help make the Camel Hump Soup she was making.

"Daphne! Get in that car, we need to get back and relieve Jacob of Sabrina and Puck. They will have probably tried to kill each other by now, and he must be frazzled." Granny exchanged a smile with Mr. Canis as the shy Everafter spoke up to quiet Daphne.

"Oh, yes! Sabrina and Puck have such a cute way of telling how much they love each other! They will make such a cute couple when they finally start dating! Red, do you think that they will go see a movie or go out for ice cream?" Daphne gasped, climbing into the car. "Red! What is Sabrina chooses yellow for the theme at her wedding! Then we can't use red roses, and she would look so nice with red ros– " She was cut off by the engine starting.

Granny looked back and saw that Daphne's spiel had not actually stopped when the engine started. She was leaning close to Red and shouting to be heard. A glance at Mr. Canis showed that she was still talking about Sabrina and Puck's wedding. With the ears left over from the Wolf, he could hear every word. She sat back and settled in for the drive. While its banging, jerking, and blowing was not all together calming, Granny was long used to it, and she dozed off.

"Oh, Mom! I missed you so much!" Sabrina still had tears on her face, but they were happy now. She hugged her mother tightly again. "I can't believe that you're awake!"

Veronica held her eldest daughter tight. "Sabrina. I… I can't believe that I have been asleep for so long! My baby is almost grown up… You are almost fifteen." Her eyes shone with tears as she held her daughter away from her. Her eyes hungrily took in every aspect of her teenaged daughter. "And if you are almost fifteen, then Daphne is… ten!" She let out a little cry of shock. "Sabrina…" She pulled her daughter right onto her lap.

Sabrina let out a surprised yelp, but she did not protest. She smiled, her tears mixing with those of her mother. She closed her eyes, relaxing in her warm embrace.

Suddenly, her eyes opened. "Dad!" she exclaimed. The surprise at seeing her mother had made her completely forget that Henry would also be awake.

Veronica felt Sabrina's forehead. "Are you feeling alright sweetie? I'm your mother. Remember?" Her eyes twinkled as she cracked one of her famously bad jokes.

Sabrina rolled her eyes, but she hugged her mother again. She had missed those jokes. "I haven't seen him in five years either!"

Veronica shook her head in amazement. "Five years… I still can't believe it." She looked into her daughter's eyes. After a long moment, she smiled. "Come on sweetie; let's go find your father." She took her daughter's hand, and they walked down the stairs.

They entered the kitchen, where they found Henry sitting watching as Puck dug around in the fridge. It seemed as though he did not take in anything he saw.

Sabrina hesitated. "…Dad?"

Henry jumped, looking around. He stared at Sabrina for a moment. Then, all of a sudden, he leapt out of his chair and ran around to the side of the table that Sabrina was standing by. He stopped up short, seeing his almost grown up daughter, but then wrapped his arms around her tightly. He held her for a long moment. Sabrina's tears had started up again, and she could feel her father's tears on her neck. Veronica sniffed and joined in the hug.

Puck peeked out over the fridge door. He mock gagged. Then he caught Sabrina's eye, and she glared at him. Seeing her expression change, he sauntered out of the room.

Pulling back, Henry started at his daughter. "Sabrina… What… How…" He coughed. As he opened his mouth to try again, however, the front door banged open. Sabrina glanced into the living room, where she saw Jake standing, glaring at his feet. He had failed to catch up with Goldie.

"Uncle Jake! Come quick! Look!" Sabrina startled him out of his reverie. He jumped, and glanced toward the kitchen. Her voice had had a sense of urgency to it that made him frown. He walked into the kitchen and froze at the sight he saw.

Henry also froze, staring at his brother. Something in his face changed, and he became almost wary. Veronica looked back and forth between her husband and his brother. Then Henry launched himself at his brother. Jake flinched, as if he expected to get punched, but Henry hugged him. Looking surprised, Jake hugged his brother back.

"Henry… I'm sorry. I can't even begin–"

"Jake…?" Henry cut him off.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." Jake cracked a smile.

…

"…and I will bet you twenty dollars that their first baby will be named Robin! It is a u…umi…uneem…" Granny awoke to Daphne's chatter stuttering to a halt. She was searching for a word she did not know. She appeared not to have stopped for the entire ride.

"– erm, Papa?" Red still had not completely adjusted to calling her adoptive father "papa", as they had agreed on. "Papa? Do you know what the word is? What the name 'Robin' can be?" Her quiet voice was the only thing that could stop Daphne's waterfall of words.

"Hmm?" He handed each girl a grocery bag. "Oh. I believe the word Daphne is looking for is 'gender neutral'."

"Yeah, gender neutral! Robin is a gender neutral name, so they can name their baby Robin whether it is a girl or a boy! And then I think they will have six kids, and can move to the…" Once she had the word she wanted, she started again.

Mr. Canis smiled, taking the remaining six bags, leaving Granny empty-handed. She smiled at her lieblings, and opened the door.

They were immediately blown back by the full-scale war that seemed to be being fought in the Grimm dining room.

"…New York! I will be taking them back to New York! You are your stupid Everafters can't fight your war without two children? Then you are bound to lose! Veronica, I will be taking them back, if you want to stay and die like my father…"

"…war, Hank, means death! Too many have already died and you cannot take away one of our most talented fighters! If you take her, you are taking him. Yes she trains, but she will not…"

"…again! We left before, I will not leave her now. She is old, Henry, and she missed years of their lives! How will you respond when they take their children away from us? Because your attitude…"

"…Everafters! Their fault…"

"…because of you! War…"

"…completely out of line! How dare…"

"…Everafters..."

"…War…"

"…Stay…"

The happiness had begun to dissipate from the kitchen when Jake and Sabrina started to tell Henry and Veronica the story of what had happened. With each word, Henry's face had darkened. When Sabrina let slip that she was taking sword fighting lessons at the Fort with Snow, he had snapped. Deciding that they would be leaving as soon as Daphne got home, he insisted that Sabrina go begin packing. Jake, Sabrina, and Veronica had refused vehemently, and the argument between the adults had risen. It was only getting worse by the minute.

Daphne's eyes widened. "…Mom? Dad?" her shocked voice did not even come close to being heard. She stared at her parents.

"ENOUGH!" Came the reverberating voice of Mr. Canis.

All yelling ceased. They three adults turned toward the voice.

"Daphne!" Both Henry and Veronica descended on their younger daughter.

"…How are you even awake?" Daphne whispered in amazement,

Henry was breathing heavily and still sending glares at his brother. "Jake, I do not care if there is a war going on. Anything involving Everafters is too dangerous for my children!"

"Henry Grimm, if you take these children away, I swear–"

Henry interrupted his wife "Swear what?"

The argument looked like it would escalate again, but Sabrina stepped in. "Mom, Dad, Daphne and I aren't children anymore. We have been dealing with Everafters for five years!"

Her father stared at her as if he didn't see her. "Sabrina Grimm, you take your sister upstairs and pack! We are leaving now!"

"I am not leaving your mother here alone in the middle of a war, Henry!"

He glared at her, shouting "Fine! Stay then! But I am taking the girls away! Out of the state!" A maniacal half smile crossed his face. "Akron, Ohio, here we come!"

"Hey, I'm from there!" Puck's voice announced his appearance. The family ignored him.

"Henry, the girls have been with me for five years. You don't even have custody on them! You have been asleep for a very long time!"

"Mom, I will not let you drag my daughters into the exact thing that got Dad killed!"

"No." Jake spoke quietly. "Hank, Dad died because I made a mistake. I let… I broke into Baba Yaga's house. Don't blame Mom, don't blame the Everafters, and don't blame yourself. Blame me."

This was the most unexpected thing to ever come out of Jake's mouth. "Jake, I don't blame you…" Henry whispered.

"Sure you don't." Jake's response was still very quiet.

"Jake…" He looked helplessly at his brother. Jake looked away, out of the window.

Henry stared at his brother with an odd look on his face. "Jake… We are going to stay. I'll prove to you that I do not blame you."

He crossed the room and gave Jake a gruff hug.

Puck sighed. "Why isn't anyone paying attention to me? Heeello! Trickster King here!"

Sabrina glared at him. _'Of course he was going to be the one to break the moment.'_ She rolled her eyes.

Henry looked over at the boy, frowning. "Who are you, anyway. You were digging through Mom's fridge earlier."

Sensing the unspeakable question about to come up, Granny hurriedly tried to avert it. "Henry, this is–"

But she was too late. A look of dawning comprehension crossed Henry's face, and he asked it: "Are you… Peter Pan?"

Sabrina covered her mouth with her hand, glancing at Daphne and Red. All three girls looked at Puck. His face was darkening, and he was glaring at Henry.

"I AM NOT PETER PAN!" Smoke shot out of his nostrils and his eyes glinted red. Clenching his fists, he spun on his heel. Spinning, he began to transform into something with very long, very sharp, horns

"Puck, please…" Granny asked hopelessly.

Surprisingly, Puck listened. Changing back into himself, he stormed out of the room.

Daphne giggled. "That went better than last time!"

Red nodded in agreement. "Yeah, at least the roof is still on. Remember that time with the Tortoise?"

Jake shuddered. He had been the one to clean up. "Hmm… Maybe we should just introduce Puck first thing. Like 'This is Puck. Not Peter Pan. Hello! I have not seen you in ages!'"

Henry suddenly understood. "That was… Puck? What is he doing actually _in_ our house?"

"I officially adopted him around the time the girls moved in." Granny explained.

"But… He is growing up! He swore he would never do that!" Veronica looked impressed.

"Yeah. That also started around when the girls moved in." As he said this, Jake shot a glance at Sabrina.

Veronica didn't miss the glance. She gasped. "Sabrina, is Puck your… boyfriend?"

Sabrina blushed, and the kitchen dissolved into laughter.

"I knew it!" A voice called from the TV room. "You can't resist me, Grimm!"

Sabrina snorted. "Watch me, I'm doing it now!"

"Ha! I didn't hear you deny the question!" He called back in a singsong voice.

Daphne squealed. "Red, what did I tell you? Red roses and Robin!"

…

_I love writing the conflicts between Sabrina and Puck… I have always thought that if Sabrina and Puck were ever to have a child, they should name him or her "Robin". I never, ever, have been able to come up with anything better – nothing really seems to fit. My apologies if Daphne was a little hard to follow… that was the point, though. She is the kind of person that gushes._

_Lurvies! _


	4. Chapter 4

_PenguinLoverGirl – I am going to take your single exclamation point to mean that you were excited that I mentioned you? I am going to agree with Lara D: you ARE an awesome reviewer! _

…

**The Final Battle**

_**ONE YEAR LATER**_

"Good… good. Now block, Sabrina. Puck, slow down! This is not an actual fight, don't waste your strength! Just practice slow… Good, now Puck, you block."

The voice came from a very beautiful woman. She stood in camouflage pants, loose cotton shirt, and sturdy boots at the edge of a training court. Her black hair was pulled tightly back in a ponytail, a few strands loose from sparring. She had various daggers strapped to her waist, and in her left hand she held a wooden sword. She watched the two teens slowly sparring.

Both Sabrina and Puck had sweat running down their faces. Like their teacher, the both wore camouflage pants, loose cotton shirts, and boots. Both were armed with a wooden sword.

Grunting with effort Sabrina began a slow offence, attacking Puck. "Sabrina… Disarm your opponent." She mentally froze at Snow's words. _'Disarm Puck? But I have never been able…'_ Her thoughts were cut off.

Puck smirked. "I ain't gonna go easy of you, Grimm."

Sabrina shrugged. "I never thought you would."

Snow interrupted. "No talking you two! Focus! Sabrina, you head me: disarm him! Puck, don't you dare let her disarm you."

Grunting, Sabrina acknowledged her teacher's order. Still in slow motion, she swung her sword around her head to "cut" Puck's shoulder. His sword flashed up to block hers.

Sabrina blinked. He had stopped fighting slowly. Their rules of practice basically boiled down to "keep it at a slow pace, and no one will get hurt or told off". Scowling, she brought her pace up to match his. Their attacks and blocks grew faster and faster as they got angrier and angrier, until they were almost at a normal speed.

"Stop! Drop your swords!" The order was sharp. Sabrina threw one last attack at Puck. To her surprise, he had also thrown an attack, and their swords met at and awkward angle. She felt her wrist begin to give in from the force of Puck's blow. _'No! I can't let him win again!'_ She flung all of her upper body strength into keeping Puck's blade back. If it slipped, it would hit her face. A direct hit to the face would mean a broken nose and a victory for Puck.

"Stop your fight! NOW!" Snow's roar did nothing to halt the teens. Their fight continued.

Sabrina began to get the upper hand. Glaring into his emerald green eyes, she saw a familiar expression cross his face.

Sabrina frowned. She could not remember out why that particular look was so familiar…

_His face lit up. "Hey Sabrina!" _

The day Goldie came!

"_Grimm? You look absolutely–" He is cut off by an attempted slice. Blocking it he resumed "–beautiful today. You should do your hair like that more often. It reminds me of the day you kissed me."_

Grunting she shook her head. _'Oh, that's low!'_ "It won't work this time… handsome." She growled, almost wincing at the last word.

Puck's eyes widened. He had not expected that. She had thrown the tactic back at him, and it really was alarming how big of an impact it had. She smiled at him, her dazzling blue eyes glinting with triumph.

"Sabrina Grimm! You stop this…" Snow trailed off. She watched the girl intently. She swung her knee up. He glanced at it, distracted. Never meaning to actually kick him, she pushed him to the ground with her sword. Pulling back, she knocked his blade from his hands.

All three looked at the fallen blade, mouths open. Then Sabrina gave a loud whoop. "Yeah! Beat you, Fairyboy!" She threw her fist up in victory.

Puck blankly stared at his fallen sword.

…

"I so won that! Don't even pretend that you went easy on me!"

They were flying back to the Grimm house though the Hall of Wonders, ears still ringing from the scolding they had gotten from Snow. She had been furious at them for continuing to fight even after she had told them to drop their swords.

"_At this rate neither of you will be allowed to fight once you are eighteen! No general want soldiers that will not immediately obey orders. I will be speaking to Relda about an appropriate punishment." Turning to Sabrina, she added, "I will congratulate you, Sabrina. After years of fighting, you have finally disarmed your opponent." While her words dripped with sarcasm, her eyes still showed that she was proud of Sabrina._

"Grimm?" Puck's voice brought Sabrina back to the present.

"Huh?"

"I want a rematch!"

She sighed. "Puck, she confiscated our swords until we have 'served our time'. We can't even practice now."

"Yes, but… Well, no one has confiscated MY wooden swords!"

Sabrina looked at him in surprise. "You still have those? We haven't used them since we were twelve!"

He wiggled his eyebrows. "Why would I get rid of them? They were the first pair I beat your butt with!"

She rolled her eyes. "That's stupid."

"You're stupid!"

"I think that you have mistaken me for you."

"That's impossible, I'm way too handsome!"

She grimaced in disgust. "Yeah… right."

Suddenly she was falling. She sprawled out onto the floor of the Hall, her hand hitting a door labeled "Enchanted Knives".

"I will see you in my room in one hour. Do not be late, Grimm!" Laughing maniacally, Puck flew away.

Sabrina scowled. Pulling herself up into a sitting position, she quickly checked herself for injuries. Cursing the fairy, she stood up and began walking home. She ground her teeth as she felt the tingling sensation of all the magic surrounding her. It was so tempting…

"Starfish? Is that you?" Mirror poked his head out of a door, labeled "Magical Shoes. His round face slipped into a large grin. "Hey 'Brina! How was your class?"

"Okay. Puck was a pain, and Ms. White yelled a lot. We got in trouble for– oh! I almost forgot! I disarmed Puck today! I won!" She also grinned.

"Oh, Sabrina! That is wonderful! Congratulations!" Glancing around, he frowned. "Wait, where is Puck anyway?"

"Pouting, I think. He wants a rematch, but we got our swords taken away."

"Why? Did you attack Charming?"

Sabrina laughed. "I wish. Last time I saw him, he was in a really bad mood. But alas, it was much stupider: we got our swords taken away cause we didn't stop when Ms. White ordered us to."

Mirror frowned. "Oh, that was stupid. But still, that doesn't seem fair. You won, didn't you?"

Sabrina smiled. "Who said life was fair? It's practice for the actual war."

A sly smile crept onto Mirror's face. "I seem to remember someone saying that 'All is fair in love and war'. Well, if this is war…"

Sabrina laughed. "Oh, Mirror… You are as bad as Mom!"

"I take offence to that!"

Laughing again, Sabrina looked at her watch. She sighed. "I better go. I need to walk all the way back home since Puck left."

"Wait, Let me lock this room up, and I'll take you back in the trolley."

Sabrina winced. She was not very fond of the trolley. It just went too fast. "Naw… Its fine, Mirror. I'll walk."

He looked hurt. "Come on, 'Brina! I insist."

Looking resigned, the teen surrendered. "Okay. Just… don't go quite as fast?"

Mirror locked the door. "Sorry Starfish. One speed only." He laughed.

"It figures." Grumbling she climbed into the trolley.

"Buckle up!" Mirror grinned at her. Suddenly, he sneezed.

Sabrina raised her eyebrows. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm… I'm fine. Must have been some dust in the Magical Shoes room" He sneezed again. "Let's get you home."

…

After saying good bye to Mirror, Sabrina tottered down from the attic. She was dizzy from the ride back, and the longing sensation had not gone away. The tingling need for magic gnawed at her stomach. She knew that she could go and retrieve a wand or an amulet from Mirror and no one would be the wiser. Biting her lip, Sabrina shook her head. _'No! I have to stay away from it! It's because I'm alone. If Puck hadn't left me–'_

She stopped short. She had reached Puck's door, which was cracked open. In the time it had taken her to get home, Puck had hung up a sign:

**Enter, Ugly, but take heed!**

**I'm gonna kick you'r but!**

She raised her eyebrows. Apparently three years of schooling at Fort Charming had been lost on Puck.

Shaking her head, she looked at her watch. If she were to listen to his orders and accept his challenge, she should go in right then. However, she was not planning on actually fighting Puck again. Their practice had lasted three hours before being stopped. They also had a history class that evening with Marian Hood over at the Fort.

She looked into Puck's room. The weather in there was pleasantly cool and Spring-like, much better than the blistering heat that was the rest of Ferryport Landing. She sighed, knowing that she really needed to review her notes on Hans Christian Anderson in before that night's history class.

She walked slowly down the hall to her room. Opening her door, she saw Elvis lift his head guiltily from her bed. Sending a glare at him, she walked over to her closet. Pulling out some shorts, she changed; her room was one of the warmest in the house. After folding her pants, she walked over to her desk. Opening a drawer to retrieve her notes, she discovered they were not where she left them. Surprised, she looked in another drawer. And another. But she didn't find them. They were gone.

Realization hit her. "PUCK!" She bellowed, making Elvis jump. She ran from her room, banging the door on her way out. She threw Puck's door open, and halted. She wouldn't put it past him to have booby-trapped the entryway, giving him the advantage. Squinting, she saw nothing, no evidence of a trap. This didn't mean there wasn't one, however.

Cautiously, she stepped into the room. Her step did not set off a trap. Slightly bolder, she took another step, and another. Setting off no traps, she began to walk down the path. Soon she came to another sign:

**This path is dangerous!**

**Go back while you still have you'r head!**

Looking down the path she saw another sign:

**You'r boldness in going cost you:**

**1 head.**

Walking past this one, she saw a final sign, posted in the middle on the path, right before the open clearing they used to fight in. Leaning against it was a wooden sword.

**I would turn around if I were you.**

**But it's not my head.**

Sabrina heard a quiet buzzing sound from behind her. Hearing it grow louder, she knew that Puck was flying up on her from behind. _'Ha! I knew that he would cheat!'_

She turned around. Puck was charging. And her history notes were poking out of his pocket.

A rage suddenly came over Sabrina. She picked up the extra sword and ran forward to meet Puck's attack.

…

Puck wasn't surprised that Sabrina was been angry that he stole her notes. In fact, he had been expecting it. What did surprise him was the ferocity with which she attacked him. She gained the upper hand with in moments, forcing him back the way he had come. Needing a moment to recover, he flew higher so that he was just out of her reach.

"Wimp! Scumbag! Get down here with my notes! Mrs. Hood might quiz us tonight, you dunce!"

Ignoring her, he flew a few feet into the clearing. After hovering for a moment, taking in his opponent, he landed. Sabrina immediately went after him. Again, she gained the upper hand. Her goal was not to win, although that was part of it. Her goal was to get her notes back, and to humiliate Puck. She only wished that there were people watching.

She closed in on Puck. Struggling with the unfamiliar sword, she had a lot more trouble getting the upper hand the second time. Puck was wary of her, never putting his wings away. _'I just need a way to distract him…!'_

"Nuh-uh-uh, Grimm! No tricks! We both know that that won't work this time! It is clear to both of us now that I am beautiful, while you are–"

He was cut off by Sabrina's fist. Forgetting her sword, she relied on the sole move that had gotten herself and Daphne food while in the orphanage – a strong punch to her enemy's jaw.

Puck's head jerked up and he keeled over. Sabrina jumped on him, pinning his arms down with her knees. She then began punching him mercilessly. Both swords lay forgotten.

"Jeez Grimm – Ouch!" He winced and she punched his chest. "Grimm, you can have your stupid note's back! They're I my pock– Ow!" She slapped him. "They are in my pocket, just let me grab…" He squirmed beneath her,

"You. Give. Me. My. Notes. Back. Right. Now. And. Never. Take. Them. AGAIN!"

Puck raised his eyebrows. He looked into Sabrina's extraordinarily blue eyes.

Suddenly Sabrina rolled off of Puck. She glanced at him, but then looked quickly away.

Bewildered, Puck pulled her history notes out of his pocket. Hesitantly, he pushed them towards her. She appeared not to notice.

"Sa–Grimm?"

She stayed silent.

After a moment, she spoke. "I'm… I'm sorry I punched you Puck." Puck looked up, surprised. As she lay down in the grass, she continued. "I don't know what got into me. They are just history notes, not anything worth fighting for. Are you okay?"

Puck was silent for a moment, before he replied "Uhm… Yeah… I'm fine. It's my fault. I egged you on, and you were already tired from practice…" As he realized what he was saying, he frowned and lay down in the grass also.

She turned her head to look at him. His blond hair fell almost to his eyes, shining in the magical sunlight that filtered into the clearing. He had not changed out of his training clothes.

He turned to look at her, slightly surprised to see her looking at him already. Their eyes locked, green on blue. After a long moment, Sabrina blushed.

Puck rolled onto his side to face her, his head propped up on his hand. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, curious.

Sabrina blushed deeper. "Nothing… Mind your own business." She looked away. The image of Puck kissing her when they were eleven mixed with the thought of Puck kissing her right then and there swam to the forefront of her mind. She tried to shake it away.

As if he had read her mind, he leaned forward, his face inches away from hers. Her breath quickened as he spoke. "Maybe we are thinking the same thing…" She shivered and looked back at him. He had no trace of a smile, and he was looking deeply into Sabrina's eyes. She shivered again.

He leaned a little closer. "It wasn't the most romantic thing ever, was it? Maybe we should…fix that." he whispered. She could feel his breath on her neck.

…

Dinner that night in the Grimm household was quiet. Sabrina was sitting next to Puck, but she didn't look at him, didn't talk to him. She picked at her food, a mess of purple rice and something that looked like blue fish. Her left arm kept bumping in Puck's right; it was the downside of being a lefty. Every time their arms brushed, she flinched away, feeling him do the same.

"Puck? Liebling, why aren't you eating?"

Granny's concerned voice made both teens jump. For the first time since they came downstairs, Sabrina looked at Puck. He was blushing a little.

"Uh… Nothing. I… I'm fine."

Granny was not convinced. "And you too, Sabrina. What happened today? Did something go wrong at the Fort?"

Henry glanced up from his seat across from Sabrina. He stared at her for a moment, and then asked "Sabrina? Did something happen today during your class?"

Puck's elbow touched hers. She jumped. "Uhm…"

Jake spoke up. "Oh, Mom… Charming called. He said for all of us to come over tonight when the kids go for their lessons. Something about Snow wanting to talk with us."

Henry glared at Sabrina. "Young lady, what–"

Veronica interrupted him. "Sabrina… Can you tell us about your lesson today? Anything… unusual?"

She shook herself, and pushed a weak smile onto her face. "I…uh, beat Puck today!" After saying it, her smile grew. She really was proud of her accomplishment.

Daphne gasped and nudged Red. They both were looking at Puck. When she looked at him, Sabrina saw that he had started frowning.

Veronica grinned. "Oh Sabrina, that is wonderful! What an accomplishment! I am so proud of you!"

"All that practice worked then! You'll be able to take some breaks now!" Henry added.

"Liebling, I do believe that this calls for a celebration!"

As she was standing, Puck cut her off. "What's so great about her beating me?" he asked gruffly.

Jake reached to pat Puck's shoulder from the other side of Sabrina. "Why don't you not rain on her parade today, Puck." He suggested with a warning look. Puck rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Where are you going Puck?"

"Upstairs, Old Lady! A king shouldn't have to hear his subjects going on and on about his defeats!" He turned to leave.

"No, Puck! You will stay here at the table. It is only polite."

He glared at her. "Since when does the Trickster King care about being polite?" he muttered. But he sat back down slowly. He glared at everyone. Then he glared at his food, poking at it moodily.

Veronica frowned. "Since when does the Great Trickster King not eat dinner?"

Puck stared at Veronica. Then his expression softened. "I'll let that ignorant comment pass." He paused. "And to answer your question, since never," He began shoveling huge bites of food into his mouth.

Sabrina looked at him queasily. "Well, there went my appetite. Thanks, Puck."

He grinned at her, a piece of half chewed fish falling onto his lap. "Always a pleasure, Grimm."

Sabrina shuddered and turned away from him. She saw Daphne look away, but Red wasn't so quick. She had an amazed look on her face as she watched the exchange. When she saw Sabrina staring, she quickly turned away.

For some odd reason, Sabrina felt a blush start to creep onto her face. _'No! Why does this happen to me!'_ She felt Puck's elbow gently brush her own again. This time, it lingered for a fraction of a second. Her blush deepened. _'Ugh! Why does Puck do this to me! I don't even like him!'_

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" Sabrina said, a bit louder than she had meant to. Everyone stared at her, and she blushed again. Quickly standing up, her elbow bumped Puck's one last time.

The force knocked the bite of fish he had been trying to take right off his fork. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

Sabrina ignored him. She left the dining room and headed towards the front door. When she got there, she started to unlock the door but stopped. A sudden unease made her check the peephole. It rarely was used, but something about the presence on the other side made her look.

It was Mayor Heart.

…

_I think I am way too fond of this cliffy. Let's get some action! I know, I know… It's coming, people! I just have to, er, get there. And I will get there. I swear! Watch out! Annnnnd… Oh yes, I tossed in some Puckabrina. Did you like? My friends and I have turned "Maybe we should…fix that." Into our own personal meme! Complete with picture. Some black and white thing with Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson (teehee)._

_Lurvies!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey you guys! I am endlessly sorry for leaving you on such a huge cliffy for so long! I really hate it when that happens, and I usually try not to leave such enormous ones… But this one was an accident. There was a part in this chapter that was bugging me, so I sat on it for a while. It turned out better than I thought it would, so I'm happy! There is another note I have, but I'm putting that at the end!_

_PenguineLoverGirl: The funny thing about the Puckabrina moment is… nothing actually happened. When I wrote it, I envisioned Puck being close to her like that, and either she got uncomfortable and left, or someone came in and retrieved one of them for something. But now that you mention it… so many things could have happened! _

**The Final Battle**

…

Sabrina gasped. She looked astonished at the mayor of Ferryport Landing. "What are you doing here?" She spluttered

The Mayor tried to look disdainful, but she ended up coughing. "I came with a message." She croaked.

At the sound of her voice, chairs were immediately thrown back in the dining room. Sabrina looked back to see Puck barreling into the room, closely followed by the rest of the family. He got to the door first and glared at the Queen of Hearts.

Veronica gave the Queen a sickening smile. "Well hello, _Your Majesty_. How has life been treating you? Any head sent rolling, or did the Master forbid it?"

As the Queen tried to answer, she fell into another fit of coughing.

Granny looked slightly concerned. "Mayor, is there anything we can help you with?" Her cold voice did not match her expression, which was hard with hatred.

"I need no help. But I come bearing a message from the Master and his army. He has requested that you take it straight to the ever so hidden rebel camp." she rasped. Coughing, she continued, "An illness is roaring through our army and followers. We wish to make a treaty. As we are still at the advantage, the Master has decided to request that there be no battles until a cure has been found."

A whimper from next to Sabrina indicated that Red had had a revelation, had remembered something from her time in the Hand. She swiftly glanced at the girl, and then to her father. He was frowning at Red, watching all the color leave her face. He made eye contact with Sabrina, and an understanding past between them: the Hand must not know that the Grimms were receiving important pieces of information through Red's recovering memory. He took Daphne by one hand and Red by the other, and walked them out of the entry hall, Daphne's whispered complains floating down the hallway.

As Granny opened her mouth, Jake stepped forward. "How do we know that this is not just a ruse, something to make us put our guard down?"

The Queen gave a low chuckle that ended with her leaning against the doorframe for support. "Is my condition not enough proof for you, Jacob Grimm?"

He shook his head. "You know it is not."

"Then take the absence of any protection."

Sabrina's eyes widened. Now that she thought about it, she did not see the Sherriff or any of the Queen's various other bodyguards. Sabrina glanced at Mr. Canis, who had a deep frown on his face.

"Old Friend?" Granny's voice caused Mr. Canis to turn to her. After sharing a look, he nodded. He stepped closer to the Queen, out onto the doorstep.

Mayor Heart took a quick step back, a frightened expression crossing her face. "Now wait right there, mongrel!" A growl came deep from within Mr. Canis. If the wolf had remained in his body, his eyes would have turned blue.

Mayor Heart stumbled, sprawling backwards onto the porch.

Mr. Canis turned back to Granny. "She tells the truth, Relda. She came alone. There is no one for miles."

Granny nodded. "I did not doubt her, Old Friend. Not in her current condition."

Jake gave a grunt of frustration. "Mom, you are far too trusting! Her current condition could be a lie"

"If her current condition was a lie, Mr. Canis would have smelled that, too. As it is, he clearly knows the depth of the disease. Perhaps better than she does." Granny gave her son a serious look. Her head twitched slightly in the direction that Henry had taken Red and Daphne.

Confusion crossed Jake's face. Scanning the group for support, he noticed the missing people. The look of confusion was replaced with one of understanding as he realized the need to make the Queen leave.

"I was told–" She was cut off by yet another round of coughing. After this subsided, she continued. "I was told to give you this letter." She pulled it out. It was in an envelope, with a neatly penned "Charming" on the front. "This is a message from the Master himself. It is to be given to the leader of your rebellious army." She paused, blowing her nose. "He told me to tell you to again take the lack of my protection as a sign of its honesty. Good day, Grimms." And with that, she quickly left.

…

"Red, did you see something important?"

Henry's gentle yet urgent voice made the small girl press her hands tighter to face. When the Queen's sick face had come into focus, she had suddenly seen a flashback into her past.

"…_and you will stay in this room, okay darling? This is where you will stay until I am allowed to bring you your Grandmother."_

"_Can Kitty stay with me?"_

_A carefully constructed smile was on the woman's painted face. "Yes. Your…Kitty can stay with you."_

"_Okay." She paused. "Did you find my baby brother?"_

"_Oh, yes! We have your baby brother. He is very well right now." The woman pushed her in the small of the back. She stumbled into the room._

"_Okay. I miss him."_

"_Yes, of course you do…" The woman sounded distracted. She was fumbling with something that jingled._

"_I had a room for him all ready at my house. But then Kitty burned it down. So we came here." She tilted her head to the side. "Where did you put my ring?"_

"_Huh? Ring?" The woman looked confused._

"_Yes, the ring that was on my Mommy's finger. I took it; Master said I could keep it."_

_Another push from behind, this time all the way into the room. "Oh yes, that thing. It is being…cleaned."_

"_Oh. Okay."_

_Another shove and the door was slammed shut. She whirled around to see the woman staring in relief through the window at the top of the door. "Wait! Where is my Kitty! YOU SAID I COULD HAVE MY KITTY!" Her voice grew into a shriek and she pounded her fists on the door "KITTY! WAKE UP KITTY! SAVE ME, BURN THIS DOWN! I WANT OUT! I WANT OUT!" Her finger scraped at the door, nails breaking. Soon the door had traces of blood on it. "HELP ME, KITTY! EAT HER! EAT HER! HELP ME! BURN IT! BURN IT! MAMA! DADDY! KITTY!"_

"Red?"

The voice made her jump, her old screams still echoing in her mind. It was the concerned voice of her new "Daddy", her Papa. The rest of the family had joined them in the living room. She finally removed her hand from her face, feeling a stinging pain where each of her fingernails had dug into her skin.

Granny sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug. Red shuddered, and the tears that had not been able to fall finally fell. Daphne's concerned face hovered in front of her, swirling around through her tears.

After a long silence, through out which Red stayed curled up in Granny's arms, Veronica spoke. "Red, sweetie… we need to know what you saw. Can you talk about it now?"

Held tightly in Granny's arms, Red felt safe. It was easier to remember that it was in the past when she was being held by someone.

Taking a shaky breath, she spoke. "I… I saw the room that I was kept in. You know, before I was cured."

Sabrina spoke. "You saw the asylum?"

Red shook her head. "No. When you came to rescue your parents the first time, I told Kitty… I mean the Jabberwocky, to burn it down. And he did. After that, I used a magic ring that He kept on your finger," she gestured to Veronica, "to escape to the Hand headquarters. Once there, the Queen escorted me into a small room. It had nothing inside of it, and I was kept locked inside until enough Hand members had been recruited to rebuild the asylum. Once it was fixed, I was moved back there. But in-between, I was considered useless. So I was kept locked away." Red shuddered. "I think I was kept at the Queen's mansion. In one of her closets."

Sabrina looked disappointed. "Is that all you uncovered?"

Mr. Canis answered. "Not necessarily. That is all she saw. But a lot more was uncovered. We know that the Hand has a transportation ring, and those can be very dangerous." He paused, looking carefully at Red. "Are you okay? Do you want to lie down? You don't have to go to class tonight."

Sitting up, Red wiped away the last of her tears. She shook her head. "No, I'll be okay, thanks P-Papa." She said shakily.

Granny handed her a handkerchief, and then turned to the rest of the family. "Well, we unfortunately cannot go to bed now. The day has seemed long, and in truth, it was. But the children still have a lesson with Mrs. Hood, and the rest of us have a meeting with Snow and Charming. And now we also have a letter to deliver. Gather your things, everyone. We may end up staying the night there."

…

"Absolutely not!"

Charming's voice echoed around the Fort. The Grimms had given him the letter before moving on to their respective duties: the four children to their history class, Henry and Veronica to instruct Basic Self-Defense, Mr. Canis to the map tent, Granny to the mess hall, and Jake to find Briar.

Mrs. Hood, a.k.a. Maid Marian, looked up from a copy of _Mildew Magic: The Study of Dryads (A Compilation)_. She saw that all four children were craning their necks to get a look at Charming, who was pacing around the center of the Fort with Snow. When they saw that Mrs. Hood was watching them, they quickly dropped their heads back down to their work.

Smiling, Mrs. Hood put a bookmark in her book and closed it. "Go ahead children. I know it was something you brought that is causing the commotion, and you have done well this class." She took a piece of paper off of her desk and read it over. "Let me see… Ah, we are a week ahead of schedule! This is good! For next week… I would like to complete your reading of _Mildew Magic_. We are almost done, and I would like to move the quiz up to next week. Please send word if you cannot be prepared, I will postpone class a few days." She looked back up to the children. "You are doing very well. Yes, Puck too." She added, seeing the three girls glance at him. "And… I'll tell you what. If you all pass your quiz, I will let you pick the next subject matter. Not out of thin air, I will give you a list, but you may pick it."

Daphne and Red shared an excited glance. Then Red frowned. "But… What if we can't agree, ma'am?"

"If you can't agree, I will give you review weeks until you do."

They winced. Review weeks were very dull. The dullness was a huge change from the usually exciting class, where they studied anything from dryads, as they were now, to an interesting lesson on "How to Stew Magic Beans", to the history of giants.

"And what happens when they surround us? What then?"

Mrs. Hood shook her head at Charming's yell. "For all his secrecy, he always blows his cover when angry. Go and interrupt them, and do it quickly! The moral is already low enough as it is without Charming making it worse with talk of an attack!"

Sabrina stacked her books and notes quickly into her bag. She flung it over her shoulder and ran to the door. As desperate as she was to know the content of the letter, she knew that keeping the camp calm was more important.

She dashed outside, closely followed by Puck, Daphne, and Red bringing up the rear. She saw Jake poking his head out of the medical tent where Briar worked. Sabrina beckoned to him, and he pulled Briar out with his and he strode towards the former mayor.

"William Charming! You must keep your voice down, please! All the work you do to keep everyone happy and you are going to blow it now? Unbelievable!"

"Unbelievable? I'll tell you what's unbelievable! The Grimms come dancing into camp, demanding that I let up off the Hand!"

Sabrina's jaw dropped at the accusation. "That's not what we said." She muttered to Puck.

Charming turned on his heel and glared at Sabrina. He shook his head. "Yes you did! You had the gall to come in and hand me this letter," he brandished the unopened letter, "and tell me that they want a peace treaty? Grimm, they are going to destroy everything that is standing in-between them and the rest of the world! And after that, they will destroy the rest of the world! This is the apocalypse! You think that it will be zombies, but it won't! It will be fairytales suddenly springing to life in your backyard. And instead of being the lazy Jack that you know and love, it will be a crazy killing machine! Intent on only gaining his fame back, even if it means killing two small defenseless girls!"

"Billy, that is enough!" Snow's commanding voice finally made Charming stop. He had been inches away from Sabrina's face, saying things that he knew would cut her deep. He pulled back suddenly. He looked at Sabrina, but he did not see her.

Sabrina was in shock. She had known that opening her mouth while Charming was so angry wouldn't end well. She had not expected Charming to actually turn his rage onto her. She stumbled backwards a few feet, feeling tears building up at the back of her eyes, but she would not cry. Sabrina Grimm never cried.

Instead, she glared at the former mayor. "You… You should read the letter before you accuse us of thinking that this war is a fairytale." Her voice trembled only a little. She could feel Puck twitching next to her as he fought the urge to attack Charming. His hands clenched and unclenched as he waged his inner war.

Snow made the decision for him. She stepped forward, right in front of Charming, and slapped him. His head whipped around to the side. She stared daggers at him, her hand still raised as if she planned to hit him again. "If you yell at Sabrina Grimm or any other child again, I will personally make it so that you will never be able to yell at anyone again." Her voice was cold. She turned and stalked away.

Daphne clasped her hand around Sabrina's, hugging her entire arm. "Are you okay, Sabrina?"

"Fine." Was the whispered response.

Charming looked at his feet, his free hand rubbing the spot where he had been slapped. Jake looked at him thoughtfully. "You ought to read that letter, you know." He let go of Briar's hand and nudged her towards Sabrina. "It is from the Master." He followed his girlfriend to see how his niece was doing.

Charming glanced at the group surrounding Sabrina, then down at the letter he held. Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked towards his tent.

…

"I have called this meeting to announce the newest victory!"

The Grimms sat around a huge round table. It was the Round Table that had belonged to King Arthur, and it still held the magical properties of Secrecy; anyone who sat at the table was magically unable to ever tell what was said, and no one who wasn't sitting at the table could hear a word. Only Charming and Arthur could tell someone else what had been said, and because of this, Arthur was not allowed to participate in meetings.

"What's going on Charming? Why did you take us away from our work?" Little John's enormous voice filled the tiny room.

"I was teaching!"

"Quiet!" Snow's commanding voice cut through the complaints.

Sabrina looked at her hands. She wanted to be as far away from Charming as possible, but this meeting was making that hard. Only the table in front of her and Snow's possession of her sword was keeping her from attacking the Prince.

"Wondrous news, my fellows! The Grimm family has delivered a letter straight from the Hand themselves!"

There was a long silence, and then all the Everafters turned to the Grimms. Puck grinned broadly and gave a wave. Sabrina smacked his hand down.

"Before I tell you what the letter contained, I must first bring you up to date on an experiment. A few months back, Canis, Hood and I, assisted by Frau Pfefferkuchenhaus, started the production of a top-secret drug. If given to an Everafter, it would fester and become a horrible disease. While the very first person needed to take the drug, all other Everafters could, and would, catch it, as it is highly contagious. The symptoms would vary; some would appear to have Chicken Pox, others the Flu. About a month ago, we completed it. The next part was difficult, however: how to infect the Scarlet Hand? It needed to be given as a shot. There have been no battles lately, and we had no hostages. This is where one of the Merry Men, one Stephen Hunter, God rest his soul, came in. As you all are aware, Hunter joined us after the Hand brutally took his family hostage. In the following weeks, he began having terrible dreams of what the Hand was doing to them. We believe that the Master was magically projecting the torturing of the Hunter family straight into his head. Stephan was literally going crazy with worry, and volunteered himself to take the drug and find the Hand camp."

Silence had fallen as Charming told the awful tale. Looks of horror crept onto every face. Even Puck looked appalled.

Robin Hood spoke up, interrupting Charming's praise of Stephan's bravery. "Hold on just one moment, Charming! You swore that no one would take the drug unless they were a member of the hand. You told us that we would send no suicide bombers out into the rest of the town!"

"Did you tell Hunter the dangers of the drug? It had never been properly tested! We have no idea what the side effects are, and for all we know, the drug could be fatal!"

Charming held up his hand to silence the raging men. "I understand your disgust. However, let me explain. Stephan took the drug, yes. However, he also infected the Hand! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to be the first to tell you: the Scarlet Hand is sick and dying! We are winning!"

Sabrina thought hard. The words of Charming echoed in her head, and the image of Mayor Heart's face swam to the front of her mind. There was a tugging sensation in her gut, as if there was something that she was supposed to have figured out by this information, but she couldn't place it.

Granny spoke up. "What does it do to humans?"

Mr. Canis turned to her with a disgusted look on his face. "Nothing. It is a type of magic that took on the form of some type of bacteria. It was only attracted to the magic that runs through our veins, and that's what it attaches itself to." He frowned, looking at Puck. "If this drug has indeed been used, the fairy, Red, and I should all get the antidote administered right away. In fact," he said, turning to the rest of the table, "everyone should be treated. It was dangerous enough to create it, and now that it has been unleashed…"

Snow stood up and walked around to the other side of Charming's chair. She contemplated him.

_SMACK!_ Snow had slapped Charming for the second time that day. Again, his head whipped around from the impact.

Robin, who was sitting next to Charming, raised an eyebrow. But he said nothing; apparently, he agreed with Snow's decision.

"William Charming! As your second in command, I am submitting your records in to the medical tent. Your actions, today in particular, have been bordering on insanity."

Charming stared at her in amazement. He turned to Robin and Mr. Canis for help, but they both were nodding slowly.

"You can't submit me! I am a perfectly sane Everafter, and your commanding officer."

"Oh, yes I can! If you act like this again, I will be forced to. For the Greater Good."

Charming shook his head. "I understand your anger Snow. But I have not yet told you the best part!"

Snow cocked an eyebrow. "Well, go on."

He waved the letter in her face. "Read the first line of the second paragraph! "

Snow snatched the page. Reading quickly, her jaw dropped. "No way." She whispered.

"Yes way, Love! The Master has caught the illness!"

The whole table had frozen, staring at Charming. Then the cheering started. All seemed to forget their horror at the realization that their old lives might be on their way back. No more fighting, no more long hours of training. No more death. Back to being butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers.

Sabrina's frown increased. A magical sickness, affecting only Everafters. Everafters never got sick. They never were affected by disease, never even got allergies unless they wanted them for some reason. _What am I missing?_

…

Sabrina was hiding in a corner. After he had announced the news to the entire Fort, Charming had called for a celebration. All lessons had been canceled, and everyone had made a dish, and then brought it to Jake and Daphne, who had put spells on them to make them multiply. The entire mess hall was teaming with Everafters, some that Sabrina hadn't ever heard of. A giant talking ant had already tried to engage her in conversation about insecticide, but Sabrina had quickly excused herself under the pretense of using the restroom. She had been very careful to avoid the ant when she came back out. Now she was just avoiding everyone, Grimm and Everafter.

"Sabrina Grimm!"

She jumped. Immersed in her thoughts, she had failed to hear someone come up next to her. At a quick glance, she saw that it was Snow.

"Oh… Sorry, Ms. White. I was just thinking about the drug that… That Charming sent to the Hand."

Snow pursed her lips. "Hmm… Yes, I still may report that to Nurse Sprat. Completely irresponsible, I…" She stopped, watching the former Mayor dance with Briar while Jake glared at him. But then the pair was swallowed up by the dancing crowd.

"If… If you don't mind… I don't want to stick my nose where it isn't wanted, but…

Snow's pale cheeks colored. "Nothing is going on between us, Sabrina. Actually, I turned down another proposal from him, and I think that it made him angry. Either way, he has had his eyes set on Robbie Miller, actually. Not his usual type, but since I turned him down again…"

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Why did you turn him down?"

"Because I didn't trust myself. I didn't, and don't, want to marry someone who has to protect me. I can take care of myself. I would have been accepting for all the wrong reasons, as a thank you for saving me. Again."

"Ms. White…"

"Wait. Sabrina, this isn't what I came over to talk about. Charming and I actually talked with Veronica and Relda. About the… incident earlier."

Sabrina mentally gulped. Her punishment was about to be laid out. "Okay…"

"Before I tell it to you, I want you to know that you actually did very well. You were able to beat an opponent who had a lot more experience than you. Well done."

Sabrina was a little irritated that Snow was dragging it out. "What's my punishment?"

Snow gave a half-smile. "You don't really have one. We decided that having Puck and you in the same sword fighting class isn't going to work anymore; you guys are too competitive for that to work as a motivation."

"So just no more lessons with Puck? That's my punishment?"

"Eh, not quite. Just sword fighting. All other lessons will be with him. And since he was the one who egged you on, he is getting a slightly heavier punishment."

"What is it?"

"Well… Sabrina, you are going to continue taking lessons with me, and you are now going to be fighting against me. Puck, on the other hand… It was Veronica's idea for this to also be Charming's punishment."

Sabrina, who had been taking a sip of water, choked. "What? Charming is teaching now?" she spluttered.

"Yes. He had some muttered reason for taking over Puck's training, but I didn't catch what."

Sabrina raised a single eyebrow, but kept her mouth shut. Obviously Charming had learned something when he was in the future that he has kept from her. Something to do with Puck…

…

_I tried not to make this a cliffy. It kind of is, though… Chapter Six is being written right now, but my life is also in upheaval. But hey! High school does that to you!_

_BIG NEWS! My beta, Vanimalion, and I are writing a crossover! It is the second Sisters Grimm/Lord of the Rings crossover ever on FanFic! We are very excited, because our writing talents/techniques are super different! We reeeeeally want people to hop over and read it…! So I am shamelessly plugging "Sins of the Heartless" here! go check it out! It is on the darker side… And the longer side… But we have some super epic sections coming up! The first chapter is up now, and the second is about… half-ish done. Okay, shameless plugging done!_

_REVIEWS ARE LOVED! The traffic stats don't match up to the reviews… So unless you guys are reading this over and over and over and over and… Actually, that would also be pretty cool._

_Lurvies! _


	6. Chapter 6

_Hey everyone! So sorry it has been, like, a MONTH (!) since I updated! But you know, school and stuff… Anyway, enough excuses! _

_PenguinLoverGirl – I LOVE YOU! You are awesome! Did you read "Sins"? Did you like it? Will you review? ;D_

_Would you like to read the chapter? Go ahead! Just make sure you click that annoyingly huge review button, and I will love you forever! _

**The Final Battle**

…

_Sabrina halted. She looked behind her, where she saw a long path littered with pieces of paper, many with burnt edges. Frowning, she turned back to the part of the path that was in front of her. There, the path was clear. She could see a fork in the road, about ten steps in front of her. On one side, she could see a blood spattered sword stabbed into the center of the road. On the other, there was a wand hovering just to the left of the division of the path. Both seemed to be beckoning to her, their magical auras nibbling at her addiction. Sabrina frowned. She could feel the tug of the wand, pulling her to the left, but she could also feel herself being pulled towards the sword._

_Then she heard the screams._

_They were the worst sound that had ever hit Sabrina's ears. She could pick out the voices of her mother, her father, her uncle, her sister. But the loudest voice she heard was Puck's. All were contorted with pain. _

_Through the screams of the voices, she could pick out her name, repeated over and over. "Sabrina! SABRINA!"_

_Sabrina clenched and unclenched her hands. She tried to focus on ignoring the pull of her addiction, but it felt like it was growing stronger by the minute. She could feel her feet begin to slide closer to the magical items._

_The screams grew clearer. Soon, Sabrina could also pick out the words of her parents, begging for mercy. And added to the screams of her family came the sounds of a battle: the clashes of swords, the grunts of dying warriors._

_All of this became too much for Sabrina, and she finally, gave into the pull of her addiction. She decided to take whichever item she could get her hands on first, and she would try to save her family from their torture. She started running as fast as she could towards the fork in the path._

_But she never got any closer. With every step she took, the fork in the road got farther away. Gasping, she pushed herself harder, determined to get the sword or the wand. Still, they got farther and farther away, until she could no longer see them. But the screams still echoed around her…_

…

_CRASH! BANG! SMASH!_

Sabrina jerked awake, sitting up quickly. "No!"

"DAAAAPHNEEE! WAKE UP NOW! IT'S MORNIIIING!"

Hearing her grandmother's yells, Sabrina sunk back down into her warm cocoon of blankets. Her head was pounding, and the room seemed to be spinning around her, the walls slowly inching closer to her, closing in. She scrunched her eyes shut as she felt her vision fade out from her head in a rush.

'_Sabrina! SABRINA!'_ She could still hear the sound of Puck's voice, breaking in the effort of screaming her name. And in the background, her parents begging for help, the sounds of a raging war almost muted by Daphne's screams…

Sabrina groaned, clutching her head, which was pounding from lack of sleep. The family had decided to make the two-hour trek back to their house at one o'clock in the morning rather than stay at the Fort, where the rowdy celebration had still been going strong. Henry had made the executive decision that his daughters did not need to be anywhere near the drunk Everafters.

Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm down, but it was impossible. All at once, the formerly cozy bed became hot and uncomfortable. Sabrina flipped the covers back and rolled out onto the floor. She stood there for a moment, looking out of her window. The sun was shining, beating down on the browned grass. She could already feel the heat.

Then the room seemed to close up on her. Feeling very claustrophobic, she took several quick steps to get to her door. When she opened it, she was met with Granny's fist raised as if to knock.

"Oh! Good morning, Liebling! I was going to wake you get up, but I can see that it is not necessary now!"

Sabrina grimaced, seeing the pots that her grandmother held in her hand. "Granny, do you think that next time you could wake everyone else up before Daphne?"

Her grandmother chuckled. "I suppose the pots and pans are not the most pleasant way to be awakened. And they scare Red." She added, almost as an afterthought. Then her face became much more serious. "Actually, I have been wanting to talk to you about that, Sabrina. As you know, Daphne and Red have been sharing a bed in my room. However… this arrangement isn't suiting Red anymore. While it was making her feel safer when she first arrived, she can't sleep through Daphne's bed antics anymore."

Sabrina knew where this was going. "If you want Daphne to move back into my room, you could just ask."

Granny frowned. "Well, yes. But there is no need to cop an attitude with me…" she said, raising an eyebrow.

At once, Sabrina felt bad for her words. "I'm sorry, Granny. I guess I didn't sleep very well last night. Daphne can move back into my… our… room." She forced a smile, trying to seem upbeat. "Actually, I kind of miss her, the bed feels empty."

"Apology accepted, Liebling." Granny smiled. "Now I expect you downstairs for breakfast in half an hour. Oh, do me a favor and grab Puck on your way down too, please."

Sabrina winced. As her grandmother walked down the stairs, she stared at her feet. Stalling, she turned to the bathroom. However, seeing that the bathroom was full, she grudgingly accepted the fact that she would have to face Puck right away. After putting her clothes on her bed, she slowly walked to Puck's door. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.

No one answered. Cautiously, Sabrina opened the door. Glancing around, she saw nothing out of the ordinary; the grass was green, the trees looked normal, and she couldn't see any signs of a prank.

Then she saw the bucket.

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. It was very unlike Puck for his traps to be visible or easy to find. Her eyes found the string attached to it, and followed it down to find a trip wire across the doorframe. She felt like laughing aloud. This prank wasn't going to get her. She had outsmarted the fairy!

Suddenly, an idea popped into Sabrina's head. Carefully, she stepped over the tripwire. Once inside the room, she unhooked the bucket from its precarious location. Looking inside, she saw bright orange goo jiggling around. Frowning in disgust, she started walking through the magical room to find Puck.

She found him lying on his stomach, sleeping on his trampoline. The memory of him sleeping in footie pajamas with a stuffed unicorn flashed across her mind. The pajamas were gone, replaced with sweats and a loose shirt, but the unicorn remained. The fairy's face looked peaceful, his lip twitching a little. Sabrina felt her resolve crumbling. She had set out to dump the orange substance on his head, but the innocent look on his face was making that difficult. Sighing, she put the bucket on the trampoline next to him, deciding to leave him sleeping.

But gravity had other plans. As soon as she turned around to leave the room, the bucket tilted over and spilled onto the trampoline, right above his head. Sabrina whirled around when she heard the thud and watched in surprise as it slowly pooled around Puck, working its way around to his sides and into his hair.

When the cool liquid touched him, he stirred briefly. He squirmed and stretched. Yawning, he sat up and opened his eyes. He quickly took in the scene. He saw the goo on his hands and the bucket on its side. He blinked slowly, not realizing what had happened. Then he saw Sabrina, frozen a few feet away, and his eyes widened.

"AAAAARG!" He jumped up, unfurling his wings. They had somehow escaped the goo's journey. He spun around a few times, hands flailing, trying to get it off. But his hands merely stuck to his clothes. His green eyes bugged out, a look very similar to terror coming from deep inside of them.

Surveying the scene, Sabrina started to giggle. As she fought for control, she could feel tears building up in the corners of here eyes, a result of her contained glee. Finally, she gave up and laughed so hard that she was soon unable to support her weight anymore. She fell to her knees, out of breath and still snorting with laughter.

Puck was not amused. As he hovered over her, eyes narrowed, a drop of the goo fell from his hair, and rolled down his nose. He shook his head, trying to rid his hair of the strange substance. This proved to be a mistake when several droplets attached themselves to his wings, caused them to become glued together. He dropped like a rock back onto the trampoline, bouncing back into the air. The impact caused a little of the goo remaining on the trampoline to bounce up with him, almost as if it was reaching out to grab him. At the next impact, he did not bounce back up, for his foot had gotten stuck to the trampoline. The twitching motion that followed only made Sabrina laugh harder.

"Y-you! Y-y-y-you're c-cov-v-vered… you-ou l-ook hil-l-ARIOUS!" She stuttered, barely able to breath.

Puck glared at her. He tried to get up, but his legs and butt had become glued to each other. "Grimm… I'm warning you. If you don't help me right now…!"

"What are you going to do, make a face at me? You are stuck to a trampoline, Stupid! You are glued… to yourself!" She giggled.

"Lieblings, what is…? Oh my!" Granny had come into the room, hearing the commotion. When she saw Puck, her mouth formed an "O" shape.

"Old lady, this hag has glued me to my trampoline!"

"Don't lie, Puck. You have played enough pranks that we can recognize your style." The fairy scowled at the old woman. She merely surveyed the mess, a smile playing across her lips. "So… what did you put in this, Liebling? Maybe we can unstick you if we know what is in it."

" A combination of crazy glue, lemonade, orange dye, a few pieces of cheese. Oh, and some apple peels I stole from Briar's trash."

Sabrina stopped laughing. She wrinkled up her nose. "That's gross! You could have dropped that on anyone! Do you have any idea how my dad would have reacted?"

"That would have been hilarious!" the fairy said, grinning.

But his grin faded when he was Daphne walk up behind Granny. "What's going… what IS that? And why is it all over Puck?" she saw Sabrina smiling again. Her eyes widened. "Did you prank Puck?" She asked Sabrina.

Sabrina's grin grew. "Yep. He had a booby-trap at the door, but I took it apart and dumped it on him." Daphne giggled.

Puck glared at the pair of them. "Grimm, I am going to get you back for this! Just you wait… I think it is time for that basketball!"

Granny raised her eyebrow. "Puck, I don't think you are really in the position to be throwing threats around."

Sabrina nodded. "Yeah. I mean, we could just leave you here…" She turned as if to leave.

Puck's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

At that, Granny intervened. "Okay, lieblings. This has gone on long enough. Sabrina, Daphne… you go downstairs and eat breakfast, it's getting cold. Puck, let's get you in the shower."

Sabrina and Daphne laughed. "Come on Daphne, let's go." She extended her hand to her sister, and they walk downstairs in high spirits, Puck's protests echoing after them.

However, Sabrina's good mood disappeared when she saw the blue waffles.

…

Daphne sat in the Hall of Wonders alone. After breakfast, she was supposed to have a lesson with her uncle; he was teaching her how everything in the Hall worked. However, Jake had stayed at the Fort the night before to dance with Briar. And now he was late for their lesson.

She sighed.

"Kiddo? Didn't you have a lesson starting fifteen minutes ago?"

She looked up to see Mirror. "Well, I _thought_ I did. But Jake slept over at the Fort last night. There was a super huge party to celebrate… Oh wait, I'm not allowed to tell." She frowned. "But the party was Pucktastic!"

Mirror smiled. He cleared his throat and said, "I thought you 'grew out' of that word. Is it making a comeback?"

Daphne's smile grew. "Oh, I never grow out of my words! But Pucktastic seems appropriate in light of this morning's antics."

"Wh-" Mirror was cut off by an enormous sneeze.

Daphne jumped back to avoid the spray. "Are you okay, Mirror?"

The short man pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Sorry about that. Didn't feel that one coming. What happened this morning?" Seeing that she was still concerned, he added, "I'm fine, Daphne. Really, I am."

Looking partially unconvinced, she answered his question. "Well, he apparently stayed up last night after the rest of us went to sleep to set up a prank. It was supposed to dump orange goop all over whoever came to wake him up this morning. But Sabrina caught it and dismantled it. She dumped it all over him instead, and he ended up glued to his trampoline!"

Mirror smiled, coughing again. "Sounds like a good morning for your sister." He croaked. He frowned and cleared his throat again. "Well… Do you want to come in the trolley with me down to the other end of the Hall? You could get your uncle from the Fort, and I could get to mopping the Mirror Room. People have been tromping through it all week, and it's absolutely filthy!

Daphne rolled her eyes in a perfect imitation of her sister, but she had a hopeful look on her face when the trolley was mentioned that was always absent with Sabrina. "Okay. Granny wants Uncle Jake to come home anyway. She wasn't happy that he was staying…" she trailed off, and then shrugged.

Mirror smiled a small smile. "That's odd… I wonder why she didn't want him to stay at the Fort."

"I think it had to do with why she doesn't like it when Briar stays the night."

They started walking towards the door that held the magical trolley. However, once they opened the door, Mirror paled. He stood in the doorway, swaying slightly, his eyes unfocused.

Daphne looked at him, concerned. "Mirror? Are you sure that you are okay? You really don't look too good"

He swallowed, looking at her. "You know what, I am feeling a little tired. Do you think you could get your father to drive you over? I should go lie down…"

Daphne nodded. "Get some rest, okay? Everafters don't get sick, so you must be overworking yourself!"

He nodded, and made his way down the hall. Daphne looked after him for a moment before exiting the mirror to find her father.

She found him downstairs at the dining room table with the rest of the family. When she entered the room, Veronica was the first to notice. "Hey sweetie. Don't you have a class with Jake?"

Daphne nodded. "I'm supposed to, but he hasn't shown up yet. Mirror suggested that I go to the Fort to see why he is late. He was going to drive me over, but he is really tired. A bunch of Charming's army has been tramping through the hall, and he has been working overtime to keep it clean." She turned to her father. "So I was hoping that you could drive the trolley over?"

He nodded. "Sure thing." He turned back to his breakfast. "You know, it is just like Jake to party all night and then miss teaching the next day."

Sabrina, however, was more interested in the news about Mirror. "Mirror isn't feeling well?"

Daphne shook her head. "Naw, he is just really tired. You have seen what big slobs the men from the Fort can be."

Sabrina nodded, but still looked uneasy. Daphne brushed this off. She sat down at the table and helped herself to more waffles.

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "Sweetie, maybe you have had enough waffles…? You already had a huge plate before going to the Hall."

Daphne gave her a huge grin and then took an enormous bite. Sabrina winced away, poking at her own turquoise waffles. "One can never have too many waffles, Mom!"

"You can if they are blue…" Sabrina mumbled.

Daphne wolfed her second breakfast, and then scooped the last of the waffles into her pocket. Sabrina made a face. "Ew… Daphne, don't you think that you're a little old to be shoving food into your pockets?"

The younger girl looked at her sister. "One is never too old to eat, Sabrina." She said wisely.

Sabrina looked at Daphne trying to suppress a smile, and failing miserably. Trying to hold in laughter, she changed the subject. "Did Granny talk to you yet? About the bedroom?"

Daphne nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! I'm gonna move my stuff back in after my lesson! And then maybe Red will be able to sleep better and then she'll have a breakthrough and we'll know who the Master is and then life can get back to normal around here! Because we can't go ANYWHERE anymore! We haven't even been able to go grocery shopping since Mom and Dad woke up and Jake and Briar haven't hung out at her coffee house since before THAT, and–"

Henry cut off his daughter's rant. "Daphne! Come on; let's go to the Fort, shall we?" He said with a smile.

"Yeah!"

"I'll just change out of my pajamas and we can leave. You can go see if Puck is clean yet and if anyone else wants a ride. I'll be staying over there with the trolley, so if anyone is planning to be at the Fort today, now is the time."

The eleven year old gave her father a syrupy smile and dashed up the stairs, humming to herself. Veronica rolled her eyes, and called after her daughter. "And wash your face while you are at it!"

Sabrina giggled. Much slower, she followed Daphne up the stairs. Reaching the landing, she stopped short.

Puck was walking towards her. He was wearing shorts and a loose t-shirt. His hair, damp and tinted orange from his own goo, fell messily into his eyes.

He saw that she was staring and frowned. The he grinned, saying "Mm… Like what you see, do you Grimm?"

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. "Nope." She said, hoping that her voice wouldn't shake. It didn't. "Just enjoying the fact that I am not the one with dyed hair, for once."

Puck's eyes darkened. "About that… you are going to pay dearly for this, Grimm."

Sabrina gave a short, sharp laugh. "I'm sure I will. You are predictable that way. But it was worth it to see you glued to your trampoline with your own goo."

Shaking his head, Puck pushed past Sabrina on his way down the stairs. She stumbled and looked over her shoulder at him.

He stopped halfway down and looked back at her. She raised an eyebrow at him. Taking two fingers, he pointed at his own eyes, and then at Sabrina, in an "I am watching you" gesture.

Rolling her eyes, Sabrina went into her room to put on her shoes.

…

As it turned out, the whole family wanted or needed to go to the Fort, so it took much longer to leave then they had originally planned. By the time that Red, Granny, Veronica, Henry, Puck, Sabrina, and Daphne were all ready, it was lunchtime. But they all piled into the trolley, planning to eat as soon as they got to the Fort.

Halfway through the ride, Sabrina noticed something. "Hey, Dad… You are going a lot slower than Mirror goes. I thought this had a 'one speed only' thing."

Henry grimaced. "Nope. It's all in how much pressure you put on the peddle, like in any regular car."

Daphne saw Sabrina's expression, and burst out laughing. Both Red and Puck sniggered also, and Puck even stood up and did an impression of Mirror driving.

"Woohoo! Let's go faster! Get to the Fort in record time! Let me see, can I get you there in less than a minute? I don't know, Starfish, let's see!" This impression was so bad that the whole family erupted into laughter.

They arrived at the other end of the Hall still smiling. Daphne and Red were still giggling, and Henry was shaking his head at them. "Girls… It's been a while, can you drop it?"

Veronica poked him. "Come on… you obviously know nothing about preteen girls! They will giggle at stupid things that boys do until the cows come home!" When Sabrina gave her a look, she added "Most… girls. Obviously Sabrina isn't included in that, she is way to mature for that."

Daphne and Red's giggles were renewed at Sabrina's haughty expression, and when they saw the expression on Puck's face, they nearly collapsed. "I am not… I was not… I'm the Trickster King! Nothing that I do is stupid!"

Sabrina looked at him incredulously. "Oh really? Are you saying that getting glued to your own trampoline with your own prank is not stupid?"

As Puck opened his mouth to retort, Henry glanced at him, and then looked towards the Mirror Room. Uncharacteristically, Puck shut up. The whole party quieted down and looked in the direction that Henry was looking.

A man was striding towards them, his long jacket billowing out behind him. It was Jake. The top half of his face was in shadow, but they could see that he was chewing on his bottom lip.

Suddenly, Red gave a shriek and collapsed.

"_Hello Little One. I understand you want some help finding your family?"_

_The small girl nodded as she walked. "Uh huh! I need to find my Mommy and my Daddy and my doggie and my kitty and my baby brother!"_

_The man was wearing a robe that billowed out behind him, a hood covering his face. "Well, I think that I have the perfect mommy and daddy for you. And guess what, there is a baby brother too!"_

_The girl's face lit up. "Really? You found my Mommy and Daddy?"_

_The hooded man nodded. "Yes. But, Little One… there is one condition."_

_The girl grabbed the arm of his robe. "Okay!"_

"_Good. It is going to be fun, don't worry." He said, his voice sounding pleased._

"_Is it a game? Are we going to play a game?"_

_They came into a patch of light, and the man's smile came into view. "Well… yes, it is a game."_

_The girl jumped up and down, clapping her hands. "What is it?"_

"_The game is a counting game. Can you count?"_

_She nodded, and held up three fingers. "Three! How do you play?"_

"_Well, you are going to put up handprints on the walls. Can you do that? You are going to dip your hands unto red paint and put them on things, okay?_

_The girl frowned, tilting her head to the side. "But my nurse told me never to paint on the walls. She said I would get in horrible trouble."_

_The man gave her a playful poke. "Well, you are just going to have to do it anyway, aren't you? Otherwise, you can't have your Mommy and Daddy._

_All the joy instantly left her face. "I can't…?" he eyes darkened, and her face twisted in anger. "You said that I could have my Mommy and Daddy back! You lied!"_

_The man stopped walking, and appeared to look at her. "Now calm down, Little One. There is no need–"_

"_You said so! You said I could have Kitty and Doggie and Grandma back! You said so! You are a liar!"_

"_No." The man said in a deep, rumbling voice. "I am the Master."_

_The girl's eyes widened fearfully, tears welling up in the corners. She suddenly felt two hands on her shoulders, gripping them painfully tight. She twisted, trying to get away, but it was no use; the hands only gripped tighter and tighter until she gave a whimper._

_The hooded man snapped his fingers, and the hands released her. A cry of pain from behind her made her turn. She saw an old woman lying on the floor, twitching._

"_Grandmother?"_

"_No, Little One. That is not your grandmother. Come with me, I shall take you to your new house, not her." With a wave of his hand, the old woman vanished. "Now follow me, or next time I won't be so quick to act."_

_He walked away, his cloak billowing back behind him as he walked._

As the vision blacked, Red opened her eyes to the same scene she had just left. An empty hall, with a single man striding away, his cloak billowing behind him as he walked.

Her eyes rolled back as she passed out, unable to handle the trauma of overlapping realities.

…

_Hi again! Did you like it? It was a little shorter than I had originally planned… I really like long chapters, but I know that some people go completely blind if they are too long._

_The next chapter will hopefully come faster than this one did, but I honestly can't promise anything right now. It is the end of the school year, and SUMMER is just around the corner! Sooo… yeah._

_SHAMELESS PLUGGING TIME! I am co-writing a crossover with my beta. It is called "Sins of the Heartless", and it can be found on my profile. We are super proud of it, and the next chapter is coming soon! Here is the summary:_

"_When a strange visitor from Middle-Earth appears in Puck's bedroom, the Grimm family thinks that have found their Champion against the Hand. But when they see who he really is, they begin to realize that they may have been mistaken..."_

_Sound intriguing? The please read it! And you know… reviews are nice. Both here AND on SOTH_

_I'm a rambler, sorry if this got boring. Well, I hope to se you over at SOTH!_


	7. Chapter 7

_What the heck? It has been, like, two months! I feel baaaaad about that… But I swear, I'll do better now! How do I know? Because I have a bunch of chapters that I have already written! Plus it is still summer, so I, you know, have time to write…_

_REMINDER! I love reviews. Hint hint. _

_**Quick recap of the last chapter:** Sabrina had a bad dream about her magical addiction and her family being in danger. Granny and Sabrina agreed to have Daphne move back into her room. Sabrina turned the tables on Puck and used his own prank against him, causing his hair to turn orange. Jake didn't come to his lesson with Daphne, so she just sat with a sick looking Mirror. Henry drove the whole family to the Fort since Mirror was sick. Red had a *huge* vision-thingy. When she came to, she saw the exact same thing in reality that she had in her vision and collapsed._

_Phew! That was a lot to remember. For more detail… go back and read it. See you at the end of the chapter…!_

**The Final Battle**

…

"Is she gonna be okay?" Daphne asked anxiously.

"I think so. My first though is that the vision must have had some sort of twisted reality, but something about her is different. I wish that she had collapsed in the Fort, we might have been able to keep her conscious. But that might have just been worse…" Said Mr. Canis anxiously.

"Why would it have been better in the Fort?" Daphne asked, but Sabrina's question was louder.

"What is going on at the Fort?"

Mr. Canis glanced at Jake, who's tired body relaxed in defeat. "It's empty. The Hand attacked."

Veronica gasped. "But… I thought that they were sick!"

"We also have a traitor in our midst."

Sabrina's head spun. They were under attack. There was a traitor in the Fort, one that probably wouldn't stop at anything to kill her family. Red was indefinitely unconscious. The adults hadn't said anything, but she could tell. They kept glancing each other, worry lining their faces.

Henry was watching his wife, his arm around her shoulders. Her eyes were clouded with worry, not only for Red, but also for Daphne. The small girl was fiddling with her braids, chewing on her bottom lip as if determined not to cry. Veronica tightened her arms around her youngest daughter.

To top it off, Sabrina was also sensing something powerfully magical close to her. She could feel the magical aura pulsating through her, calling to her. Begging to be released , to be used…

Puck was unusually quiet. He sat next to Sabrina, his back against the door labeled "Magical Forge". He stared at his hands, which were shaking the tiniest amount.

Trying to clear her head, Sabrina focused on Puck. Seeing his distress, she lifted her hand, and then hesitated. Her own hand was also shaking slightly, but it stopped when she clenched her fist. Biting her lip, she unclenched her fist slowly. She brushed Puck's arm, and then grasped his hand.

Sabrina could see the same surprise she felt at her action etched in the boy's face. His hands stopped shaking and he looked at their clasped hands. His thumb twitched, grazing her index finger slightly. He glanced at her.

As blue met green, each saw a quiet flame, burning at the back of the other's eyes

Sabrina blinked. Puck pulled away, and the two teens scooted away from each other. They tried to focus back in on the conversation the adults were having.

…

The Grimms and Puck followed Mr. Canis through the Fort. He had Red cradled in his arms. Sabrina had never seen this much caring from the old man. She had never realized how much Mr. Canis loved Red. Yes he felt responsible for her, but this… this was more than a responsibility.

As they silently walked through the Fort, the Everafters that had remained started to quietly emerge from the places in which they had hidden themselves. Unsure of what to do, the Grimms stayed in a tight group, walking with Mr. Canis to the Medical Tent. Geppetto was holding a disgruntled looking Pinocchio close. Cindy and Tom were sitting huddled together on a bench, wrinkled hands tightly clasped. Everyone they passed had the same subdued expression, foreheads creased and eyes worried.

Once in the Medical tent, they all were surprised to see Snow, sitting with her hand bandaged. Her blank eyes had dark circles under them. There was a deep cut shining with ointment over her right eye. When she saw the Grimms, she stood up quickly. Her face paled, and she sat down again slowly.

"Snow… what happened?" Granny asked.

"We got a tip off from one of the dryads that the Hand was starting to close in on our last know place, the Shoreline Battlefield. We had stored a massive amount of glop grenades there because Charming had decided that they would never guess that we would be so stupid as to go back there. But none of us realized that they would start looking for us there _because _it was the last place they knew we were. We had to get the army up at 2am and get there as fast as we could, which obviously wouldn't be fast enough. By the time we got there, they had discovered one reserve of grenades. Worse, they had found the ones filled with fairy godmother magic. They started targeting the witches with those; Frau Pfefferkuchenhaus is a rabbit, and Morgan didn't fully block a spell that gave her the hindquarters of a goat. None of the spells can be undone without True Love's Kiss."

Sabrina grimaced. "Why… did you choose that?"

"Because we hoped that the majority of the Hand was made up of the Everafters who had been denied love."

Daphne tilted her head to the side in thought. "Hey… That makes sense. Everyone we came into contact with felt unwanted. Even Red…" Daphne trailed off. She looked away, her cheeks lightly flushing as her eyes filled with tears.

"Where is…" Snow broke off as she noticed that small girl cradled in Mr. Canis' arms. "What happened?" she breathed.

"She had a particularly violent vision, possibly worsened by a crossing reality. We…" The old man stopped, glancing at Daphne, leaving the end of his sentence, "can't wake her up.", left unsaid.

Snow seemed to understand. She nodded, glancing at the children. She slowly stood up, wincing as she pressed two fingers to her temple. She gestured to Mr. Canis to follow her, and she limped through a tent flap to the adjourning sanitary expansion. Granny and Jake followed behind.

Veronica turned to the remaining children. "I want you guys to stay out here. Dad and I are going to talk with Snow."

For once her children nodded silently. As Henry and Veronica walked away, they slowly sat on the bench that Snow had vacated.

Sabrina buried her face in her hands. Her head was pounding from worry and the lack of magical charge; she had stayed near a powerful magical item for far too long. Nothing in the hall had ever caused her to feel quite so bad. She tried to remember where the pull had been coming from, but thoughts of Red kept floating to the forefront of her mind.

"Sabrina…?"

She lifted her face out of her hands, looking at Daphne's questioning expression blearily. "What?"

"Is Red… alright?"

The small girl had tears in her eyes. It broke Sabrina's heart to see her like this, lonely, afraid… not at all her normal, bubbly self. "…I don't know, Daphne."

"But… is she gonna make it?"

"Of course she is."

Puck's subdued response was surprising, but given everything that had happened that day, it wasn't unexpected.

"But how can you be sure? The grownups weren't saying anything, and no one will talk in the same room as us!"

"Because…" Puck faltered.

"Because she will." Sabrina said, coming to his rescue. "We are Grimms, this is what we do: we save people. Granny and Mom and Dad and everyone is busy helping Red, then we need to help them."

"What do you mean?"

"Well… there is a traitor, someone in the Fort right now who wants us and this army dead."

"And we are gonna find them?" asked Daphne.

"Yep." Replied Sabrina, a half smile sneaking onto her face.

"Grimm, have I told you lately that you are the stupidest person I know? Your plans could get me killed!"

"You killed… Daphne and I are in just as much danger as you! We all protect each other."

"I'd die before I let you get hurt."

Both girls shrank back an inch, surprised and a little afraid at the seriousness of Puck's statement.

…

They began their search by the mirrors. After Puck vehemently rejected Sabrina's suggestion that they split up into two groups, they started making an odd zigzagging pattern across the Fort looking in empty tents and through windows. Many of the empty tents were just that: empty. Some were clearly inhabited, but again, empty. One was so powerfully magical that Sabrina needed to stand sixteen feet away from it in order to keep her lunch.

When they came to the tent that Sabrina, Daphne, and Red shared when they stayed in the Fort, they passed it by in silence, not even glancing at it to see if anyone was lurking around it.

After they made it through the small group of Grimm tents, they stopped by Cindy and Tom's. They were invited inside for some tea, but didn't stay long. Cindy was extremely worried about her mice, who had gone to the battle that morning.

The next tent belonged to Geppetto. Sabrina stopped before the announced their presence.

"Do we have to go there?"

"Yes!" Daphne said, although she looked annoyed herself.

"But Geppetto is Granny's friend! He has been a friend of the Grimm family for the longest time!"

"Yeah, so was Jack."

Sabrina's face fell. "I just… don't like _him_."

Puck grimaced. "Oh… I can just smell the books now… he uses way too many big words!"

"Use a dictionary, Stupid."

"A book?" He looked astonished and a little nauseous. "Me? A _book_?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes.

Daphne knocked on a tent pole. A voice from inside called, "Who's there?"

"Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck!" the small girl replied.

An old man with white hair and round glasses peeked out his window. His eyes lit up as see saw that it was indeed the Grimm girls. He opened his tent flap cheerfully. "Come on in!" he exclaimed.

The did so, albeit dejectedly. Geppetto, for that was indeed who the old man was, pulled out a chair each for Sabrina and Daphne around a small table that was covered in wood shavings. Clocks and carved animals stood on a small dresser across the room, but the man's carving had not been an animal. Since he was not useful in the actual fighting, he had been given the task of furnishing the Fort. He had also carved several of the bows used by Robin Hood.

"I apologize for this mess, I wasn't expecting any visitors."

Sabrina's manners kicked in. "No, I apologize. We just dropped in unexpectedly. Please, if we are intruding, we will just leave." All three were uncomfortable and wanted to leave.

"No, no. You are always welcome in my house."

"Actually…"

"Brina? Daphne! Where are you?" Sabrina was saved from having to formulate and excuse by her mother's voice.

"If you'll just excuse us, we have to leave. That was our mother…"

The old man look disappointed. "Oh… well, please come visit again soon!"

"Okay!" Puck said, his voice permeated with mock cheerfulness. Both Sabrina and Daphne elbowed him, but Geppetto didn't notice. He merely looked pleased at their enthusiasm.

The children walked quickly out of the tent. Sabrina gave a sigh of relief one they were out, glad that they hadn't had to talk to…

"Greetings, Grimms."

Sabrina froze, her eyes closed. Slowly turning, she put a smile on her face and said, "Hey… Pinocchio."

"I do hope that your visit to my –that is to say my father's– dwelling was pleasant?"

"Yeah." _Better with you gone, actually._ She thought, remembering the last time they had visited. Donuts had flown…

"Good, good. Did my father happen to show you the marionette that he modeled after me?"

"What? He recreated you in puppet form again?"

"What? No!" The boy's cheeks flushed. "I–"

He was cut off by Veronica rounding the corner. "Sabrina! Daphne!" She hugged them tightly. "We thought…" She pulled back, looking at them sternly. "Why didn't you respond when we called you?"

"We were having tea with Mr. Geppetto!"

As Veronica opened her mouth to reply, Pinocchio said, "If you will excuse me, Mrs. Grimm… I must be going. Good day, ladies… Puck…"

Surprised by this, Veronica snapped her mouth shut again. Wordlessly, she beckoned the girls and Puck after her.

…

It was long after dark when Charming and the rest of the army finally rode back into the Fort. Daphne had already fallen asleep, her head leaning on Veronica's chest; Snow had been sitting on a watchtower for three hours; Jake had not stopped pacing in front in of the gates since he had learned that Briar had gone with the army; Sabrina and Puck had been playing tic-tac-toe for an hour, both cheating as hard as they could.

Snow spotted them first from her high vantage point, and gave a shout for the gates to be opened.

They were swung wide and Charming rode in, followed by about fifty men and women. Several riderless horses followed the army.

Briar slipped off her horse as gracefully as she could, stumbling a little on impact. She ran to Jake and they embraced, kissing passionately.

To the surprise of many, Snow greeted Charming in a similar way. She hobbled to him, her legs still stiff and smacked him. He looked at her in amazement. "What was that for?" he asked loudly.

"It was for taking so long to get back and worrying me to death." Snow said, and then she kissed him.

Charming's eyes bugged out in shock.

Many people were being greeted in that manner. Some of the men had left their wives behind when they left. Little John, Robin Hood's right hand man had swept his wife, Rapunzel, up in his arms in an uncomfortably tight embrace. Gerda and Kai were crying on each other's shoulders, although that was not uncommon; they were a very emotional couple. Even Henry and Veronica kissed. The battle had been won.

"Wow, so much kissing…" Sabrina said, partially in disgust, partially in awe.

Puck glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Euch…"

Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't get any ideas, Stinky!"

"I won't, Stupid." She replied, a small smile crossing her face.

…

After the events at the gate, everyone moved into the Mess Hall for a feast. Charming was lifted up onto a table, where he told the story of the battle, assisted along by a horse that Maid Marian was embracing, and anyone in the crowd that had an opinion.

About halfway through the story, Mr. Seven took Henry aside and whispered something in Henry's ear. He frowned.

"…but as I swung my sword back, I knew it was no use. It was time for me to pull out a close range weapon! I did, and…"

Henry turned to Granny. She nodded, and then the Grimm clan stood up. Granny ushered them out of the crowded Mess Hall.

Daphne, who Henry was carrying, stirred from her sleep. "Daddy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"My pony ate your tie… and I wanna drive the trailer."

"Yes sweetie…"

"But Mama said I hadda clean the litter box."

"Mmhmm…"

"And Elvis and Mirror wanna campout in the Hallllllll…" She sighed, and fell back asleep.

Henry smiled and adjusted his youngest daughter on his chest.

…

Once she and Daphne were curled up in bed, a very tired Sabrina woke up all the way. She stared at the ceiling, wondering about the battle. Charming had been telling the story, but it had been a very self-centered version and they had had to leave in the middle of it.

"Mom?"

Sabrina froze mid yawn. Her father was talking to her grandmother right outside her door.

"Yes, Henry?"

"Sir Lancelot is in the hall with a message."

Sabrina deflated. She had been hoping to hear news that she wouldn't otherwise be told.

She went back to staring at the ceiling, thinking. She glanced at her clock. It was two in the morning. Had she fallen asleep? Had Granny not shared what Lancelot had said? Had–

Sabrina was sure she was dreaming when she heard the floorboards outside her room creak.

"What did he say?"

"They caught the spy."

"They did? How long have they known about it?" Veronica asked.

"No… The reason we had to come home tonight was because they vandalized our tents. Slashed to pieces and handprints everywhere. Charming had Lancelot leading the search party, and they looked at hands.

"Who was it?"

Granny was silent for a full minute. Sabrina strained to hear in case her grandmother, knowing her granddaughters, had decided to whisper the traitor.

"Pinocchio."

Sabrina felt her stomach completely flip over. Pinocchio? No… and if Pinocchio has with the hand, what about Geppetto?

"No…"

"Yes. But that isn't even the worst part."

"How on earth could it possibly get worse than that?"

"Charming is going to be leaving his punishment up to us."

"What?"

"Tomorrow… we decide this boy's fate."

…

Sabrina didn't sleep well that night. All she could think about was how the strange boy who had shown up so suddenly was the spy. She had never liked his story, but it was one that she actually had been familiar with.

Daphne would be crushed.

…

_Howdy! So this is the part where I remind/tell everyone to read "Sins of the Heartless" and apologize again for taking so long. Shall I get on with that?_

_!_

_Read "Sins of the Heartless"! It is shaping up to be simply AMAZING! …if I do say so myself… It has been a while since we have written anything, but again: IT'S SUMMER! That means we have time! YAY! I'll put the summary to SOTH here again:_

"_When a strange visitor from Middle-Earth appears in Puck's bedroom, the Grimm family thinks that have found their Champion against the Hand. But when they see who he really is, they begin to realize that they may have been mistaken..."_

_Beautiful, huh? Sorry to seem self-centered… I happen to be in a rather good mood right now ^-^ Weird, considering that as I write this, I am in the car, have been for six hours, and still have three hours to go… ROAD TRIP! Will be home tomorrow, then I have a wedding on Saturday, but I have so much time to write!_

_Rambling again. I have got to stop that! One last thing…_

_**REVIEW!**_

_Lurvies!_

_-Archer Princess-_


	8. Chapter 8

_Greetings! It's only been about two weeks this time! Isn't that exciting? I'm gonna try to stay this good if not better, okay? Although… I've promised that before and not kept that. Sooo… yeah, I'm gonna say that I will update more, but methinks that will be iffy. Dangit! I'm ahead of the game, though, because I have a few chapters written that just need to be edited._

_I HAVE A QUESTION! Does anyone have a nickname for me? "Archer Princess", while my very cool penname, is long. And I feel like having a nickname._

_Thank you everyone who reviewed! When I open my email and see the notifications that let me know that I have a new review, I am speechless. I can never seem to believe that peeps actually read and like what I write. I cannot express how much of a confidence booster it is to see that someone reads this. I have 20 reviews, which I know isn't a TON, but it means a lot to me. And the day I posted chapter 7, we broke 40 visitors and 150 hits! OMG! Thank you everyone! …I am gonna admit something to you: I am tearing up a little right now. In my defense, I cry at everything… Nope, I don't really have an excuse. Sooo… I'll stop now. Enjoy the this chapter, it is important! Oh, and REVIEW!_

**The Final Battle**

…

Granny woke Sabrina the next morning with a grim expression. Her lips were pursed and she had dark circles under her eyes. It looked as if she hadn't slept at all. "Wake Daphne, and be downstairs in five minutes." Was all she said before she turned around and walking down the hall.

Sabrina shook her sister. "Daphne, wake up."

Nothing.

She tried again, louder. "Daphne! You have to get up now!"

Still nothing.

Swallowing back the sudden thought that someone had killed her, Sabrina grabbed Daphne's shoulders and shook the smaller girl hard. "DAPHNE! BREAKFAST!"

"Mmmmomumuhm…"

"CANDY! PIES! FOOD! PRINCESSES!"

Daphne shifted, and her arm swung around and hit Sabrina face. "Pahtoooo…"

"Gah!" Sabrina moved her sister's arm, rubbing the spot she had hit. "Daphne..." She wracked her brain for something that would wake her sister up. "A GIANT SPIDER! PUCK IS ON A RAMPAGE! I HAVE PUDDING! DINNER IS SER–"

"GRIMM!"

Sabrina jumped and spun around. Puck was standing in the doorway with an exasperated expression. His hair, still a slight orange, was sticking up at odd angles. He was holding his shirt, clearly having run in to make her stop yelling.

"Do you mind?!"

Sabrina blinked, and blushed. A half-naked boy was standing in her room was not something she had expected to see.

"It is eight o'clock in the freaking morning. I did not sleep well because there were six stupid chimpanzees dancing around. The Old Lady is making me get up. Why must your screeching voice intrude into my already horrible morning?" He demanded, pulling his shirt on with such force that Sabrina heard a seam rip.

As an explanation, she pointed at Daphne, who had started to snore. "Granny wants us downstairs in…" she checked the clock. "two minutes, and she just won't. Wake. UP!" she shouted the last word to try and wake up her sister. No such luck.

Scowling, Puck walked over to the bed. He grabbed Daphne's hands and pulled her off the bed.

She woke up instantly. "Wha– Ow!" she exclaimed, pulling her hands away from Puck.

Sabrina was startled. She helped her sister up, saying, "Granny says we need to go downstairs now."

"But-but-but… I just woke up!" She said, yawning.

Sabrina dragged her down the stairs, Puck following behind. When they got to the dining room, the adults were already there.

As they sat down, Granny said, "Well… I received some troubling news last night."

Sabrina started to feel sick. Daphne and Puck were too busy eating to hear what she said.

Granny continued. "They caught the spy from the Scarlet Hand."

This caught Daphne and Puck's attention. "Who was it, Granny? Some no good… whippersnapper?"

Puck snorted with laughter. "Whippersnapper…"

"No, actually. This will come as a big surprise, but I will try to break this gently. It was–"

Sabrina choked on her cereal. As she coughed, her father pounded on her back. "Careful there, 'Brina…"

Her eyes watering, Sabrina looked up to see the whole table looking at her with amusement.

"Hey! You ruined the story!" Puck said, dramatically indignant.

Daphne frowned, nodding in agreement. "I wanna know who is trying to kill me, if you don't mind!"

Sabrina looked down. It was no use; she couldn't protect Daphne from the awful truth. Henry put his fingers under her chin, forcing her to look up at him. His eyes looked at her searchingly. '_Do you know?_' he mouthed. She nodded.

He seemed to understand what she was trying to do. "Mom, why don't we continue this after breakfast?"

Veronica shook her head. "No, Henry." She said quietly. "This needs to happen now. It can't be hidden anymore."

Henry shoulders slumped in resignation.

Veronica turned to her youngest daughter. "The spy was Pinocchio."

Daphne dropped her fork. Sabrina glared at her green eggs, unable to bear the look that was sure to be on Daphne's face. Why, _WHY_, did she and Daphne – no, her whole family – need to go through this? Why did the bedtime stories that so many children knew… why were they trying to hurt her family? She rubbed her eyes hard as they filled with angry tears. Another why; why was she crying? Sabrina Grimm never cries.

She never cries.

She looked up. The look on Daphne's face was enough to–

No, she wouldn't cry.

Wouldn't cry.

She never…

Never…

…

The table was silent for a very long time. Puck had stopped eating and was staring down, his jaw tightly set. His hands weren't shaking this time.

Veronica was the first to speak. Clear her throat, she asked, "So… what are we supposed to do?"

Granny cleared her throat. "Charming wants us to decide his fate."

Henry snorted. "How are we supposed to do that?"

Granny looked uncomfortable. "Charming said, to make it easier on us, he was only giving us two options. Death–" Daphne flinched and Puck looked up. "–or imprisonment."

Veronica looked pained. "Geppetto has been a family friend for as long as I have known him. Charming wants us to decide, impartially, whether or not to put his son to death?"

Henry snorted again. "This should be obvious, right?"

Granny looked at him. "I highly doubt, given your expression, that we are in the same mindset, Henry."

He looked abashed, but the conversation was interrupted by Mr. Canis' voice. "Relda?"

"We are in the dining room, Mr. Canis." Her face tensed and she rose a little out of her chair. "Is there something wrong at the Fort?"

They heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Daphne shrieked. "Red!"

The small girl was in Mr. Canis' arms, her thin face looking very ill. She managed a smile.

"Careful, careful!" Mr. Canis placed her in his chair, one with arms, and sat down in Red's. "The vision hurt her, somehow. She has actual bruises where she says the Master grabbed her, although that shouldn't have happened. It was, or should have been, merely a vision."

Red stopped him with a small hand on his shoulder. In a small, raspy voice, she asked, "What is going on? There is something… here."

Granny looked surprised. "What?"

The small girl blushed. "Oh. I, uhm…"

Daphne squinted at her friend. "There is something different about you." She said matter-of-factly.

"Red's senses have gone way up." Mr. Canis said, quietly. "What is going on?"

"You didn't hear?" Granny asked.

"I was next to her bed all night, I didn't have a chance to hear anything."

"The spy was caught."

"What?"

"It was Pinocchio."

Red gasped and looked at Daphne. She was looking grim, her lips pursed, although her eyes sparkled with joy that her friend was okay. 

"Mom, I'm sorry. I vote no. He can't stay here or in the Hall, and the Fort has nothing to offer."

"Henry!"

"He can't live, it puts everyone in danger! How do we know he hasn't got a way to contact the Master imbedded in his brain? Magic up his sleeve?"

Veronica looked alarmed. "Henry… I can't–"

He turned to her, his eyes pained. "You can't what? Believe that your husband wants someone dead?"

Veronica's mouth opened, a frown creasing her forehead. "How can you talk this way in front of Sabrina and Daphne?"

"I agree with Henry."

The sudden return of Puck's voice surprised everyone.

"Puck!" Granny exclaimed.

"You want Pinocchio dead?" Daphne asked, unable to believe her ears.

"If it keeps you and Grimm safe… yes."

Sabrina looked at Puck and nodded.

Daphne's eyes filled with tears. "Sabrina…"

"Daphne, I…"

"NO!" She screamed. "All you are thinking about is yourself! You would end the life of another human being, just because he wronged you?!" The hand she had clenched on Red's chair shook.

"No I'm not, Daphne! I'm thinking about you, about our family! He did something that could have gotten our whole family killed!"

Daphne turned away. "I hate you." She whispered.

Granny pulled the cryng girl into her arms, looking at the other side of the table , her other granddaughter in particular, with disapproval.

"Then it looks like the sides are even." Mr. Canis said quietly.

"What…?" Granny asked, looking at him.

"I agree with Sabrina. If we were to take a vote, we would be tied."

"Mr. Canis, are you honestly telling me that you want this boy, this _child_, dead?"

"No, Relda! But I am saying that anyone who tries to harm you and your family has given up their chance at life. That is the oath I took when you took me in."

"I took you in because I thought I could and had proven that you were innocent! That you wouldn't hurt a fly."

"There wouldn't be a fly if it tried to kill you!" Mr. Canis growled loudly.

Granny took a step back. Here eyes were filled with an anger Sabrina hoped never to see there again. Daphne saw it too, and slowly disentangled herself from her grandmother's arms. Veronica took hold of Daphne's hand and pulled her into her lap.

"I appear to have misread you, Mr. Canis. You are… different now."

Something in the old man's eyes seemed to collapse, but he still said, "No, Relda. I'm the same as I have ever been. Except that now the…" he faltered. "The Wolf isn't inside of me anymore."

Just then, Jake and Briar entered the room. They froze when they saw Granny and Mr. Canis standing on either side of the table, their fists clenched. The rest of the family sat in their chairs, which looked off kilter as they had been slowly sliding away from the loud argument.

"Uhm… What is going on?" Jake asked.

"Pinocchio is a traitor, Charming wants us to decide whether to imprison him for life in the Hall or to put him to death, and we are in perfect disagreement." Sabrina said, her voice muffled from the hands she held tightly against her face.

"Oh." There was a long silence.

Finally, Briar spoke. "Well, I think that an execution is a bit of an overstatement. I mean, he is just a boy!"

"Really? He tried to kill my family, Briar. If we had not been in the Mess Hall, listening to your ex-husband's _stupid_ war story, we could be dead!"

The princess looked taken aback at Henry's harsh words. She turned to Jake, a pleading look on her face.

"Henry, don't talk to Briar that way! She only has her opinion!" Jake growled at his brother.

"Sure, an opinion. But you disagree with her, I can see it in your eyes." Henry said.

Suddenly, Jake looked very uncomfortable. "I… uhm…"

Briar frowned. "Jake?"

"…Yeah. I agree with Henry. It's an unforgivable crime to try and kill someone, and we Grimms… we have never been able to forgive the people who try to hurt us."

"Yes we have, Jacob. I have always forgiven you for anything you've done wrong."

The thought of Grandpa Basil's death hung over everyone, although no one dared to mention it just then.

Jake's face tightened. "Yeah, but you… you weren't always a Grimm, Mom. You don't hold grudges. You always forgive."

"I think that you are the only one that holds grudges, Uncle Jake." Daphne said in a quiet voice.

No one dared to say a word.

…

It was finally decided that they should take the problem to Mirror, who could be an objective judge as he hadn't been wronged in any way.

He agreed with Granny that Pinocchio was only a child and shouldn't be put to death.

The rest of the family looked abashed when this proclamation had been made. It appeared that everyone felt bad about their hope, secret or well known, that Pinocchio would never be able to hurt them again.

Granny sent Henry and Veronica to the Fort to tell them the news and to escort Pinocchio to a room in the Hall. She then sent all four children to bed; the decision had taken the whole day.

"Puck, will you ask my sister if she thinks that the room in the hall will be strong enough to keep Pinocchio imprisoned forever?"

Puck gave Daphne a small smile. "Grimm, Marshmallow wants to know if–"

"I heard her, Puck."

"But–"

"I don't… tell her that if she is worried that Pinocchio will escape and try to hurt us again, why didn't she say so!"

"Marshmallow–"

"I heard her, Puck."

"But you started–"

"Yeah, and I stopped. Go away."

The three children separated, Puck to his room, Sabrina and Daphne to Sabrina's old room.

It was a few minutes before Daphne said anything else. "Sabrina… I don't want you to sleep in our bed tonight."

"Whatever." Sabrina said, a lump growing in her throat.

Daphne spun around and glared at her sister. "Don't you whatever me! I can't believe that you wanted him dead!"

"Daphne, I didn't want him dead! I want you safe! I wanted you and Mom and Dad and Granny and Puck and Red and Uncle Jake…" Sabrina's voice broke.

Daphne looked at her expressionlessly.

"I spent two years of my life protecting you from the foster homes and the orphanage. And then we came here and I protected you from the people like Mayor Heart and the Master who _hate_ us!" She fell to her knees, her fist clenched and a few angry tears ran down her cheeks.

"Daphne, I would always, _always_, keep everything from you that I could. And you hated me for that! And now you won't let me in to help. You think you can do all this, but you just… can't, yet. You don't know all the evil that is out there, just waiting to steal your childhood."

Daphne grabbed her sister's hand. "'Brina…"

Sabrina looked up at her sister, wiping the stray tears away forcefully. Daphne knelt next to her, tears streaming down her own face. The two hugged tightly. "Daphne, I don't want to ever lose you." Sabrina said into her sister's hair.

"Sabrina, I won't ever leave you! But I need you to stop squishing me out of all the mysteries and stuff, okay? I'm not eight anymore. I'm twelve. I'm older than you were when we were put into our first foster home."

"Yeah." Sabrina whispered.

"I promise that I will always take care of myself. I'm kinda good at that, you have just been too busy protecting me to notice." They both laughed. "Plus, I'm a Grimm. And Grimms… we are survivors! Otherwise how could we still be living in a town overrun by fairytale characters who want our whole family dead?"

"Yeah, you're right." Sabrina said, taking a deep, calming breath.

"Of course I'm right! I happen to be pretty smart, you know."

"Can I sleep in the bed?"

Daphne giggled. "Yeah. I didn't really expect you to sleep on the floor, you know. After all, you would have to sleep where Elvis–" Daphne stopped talking.

"What?" Sabrina exclaimed.

"Oh, nothing." Daphne said, twiddling her thumbs and staring at the ceiling.

"You are crazy."

"I agree. Mucho crazy."

The sister climbed into bed. Sabrina pulled out a book and read a chapter aloud while Daphne brushed and braided her hair; it had been a long day.

After they had turned off the light, they lay in bed, staring at the ceiling for a while. They heard their parents get back from getting Pinocchio and go to bed.

Sabrina was still awake when Daphne tapped her shoulder. "Are you asleep, 'Brina?"

"Yes"

"What?"

"I'm awake, Daphne. What's the matter?"

"Nothing… Only that I can't believe that so many book characters are real, living in this town, and trying to kill us."

"Yeah, I know."

"Sabrina, what if the Master is someone we know, someone who is close to us? Like Snow."

"I'm sure that General White will be happy to hear that you, her favorite student, have accused her of being the Master."

"No! That's not what I meant! I meant tha–"

"I'm kidding, Daphne."

She sighed. "I just can't get it out of my head."

There was a knock at their door. They closed their eyes and tried look like they were asleep as Veronica came in.

"Girls, I know you are awake." When they still didn't respond, she said, "Well… I guess that you aren't worried about anything at all. Nothing whatsoever that you wish you could talk to your mother about…"

"Mom? What if the Master is Snow?"

Sabrina smacked her forehead. "Daphne!"

Veronica laughed lightly. "Sweetie, I highly doubt that it is Snow. But I share your feelings that is it someone close to us. I just can't shake the feeling that it is someone we trust completely."

"…I'm tired, Mama…"

"I know, Daphne. You need to try to sleep." She gave her daughters each a kiss on the cheek. She walked to the door and then stopped, turning to look back at her daughters. "Sabrina, you need to sleep too. You aren't the one who is in charge all the time. You can rely on your family too."

Sabrina nodded, and managed to get to sleep.

…

_She was walking through the Fort. _

_Looking around, she saw that the atmosphere was hazy. The buildings around her were glowing orange and it was intensely hot. _

"_Fire!"_

_She ran to the nearest building, hoping to save anyone that was inside. She pounded on the door, screaming, "Get out! Get out, the Fort is on fire!_

_No one responded. She tried the next building, and the next, the smoke making it progressively harder to breathe._

_She suddenly realized that the Fort was completely silent except for her screams. She was alone._

_Desperate to get away from the scorching heat, she tore down the path that lead to the entrance to the Hotel of Wonders. However, when she got there, only their own Mirror hung on the wall. Having no time to wonder at this oddity, she jumped through the portal._

_Fresh, clean air suddenly enveloped her. She landed on the cold marble floor with a thud, letting out a sigh at the cool temperature._

"_I came with a message."_

_Sabrina leapt to her feet, drawing her sword, for the voice had been that of Mayor Heart's._

"_What are you doing here?!" Sabrina growled._

"_An illness is roaring through our army."_

"_What? I know that! How did you get in here?"  
><em>

"_Stop attacking us." She disappeared. _

_Sabrina ran forward to where the Mayor had stood. Nothing was there. She spun, staring around for where the woman could have gone._

"_I made a top secret drug."_

_Sabrina whirled around. Charming was leaning against the wall behind her. When she had turned around, she had brought herself within inches of his face. She yelped and took several steps back._

"_If given to an Everafter, it would fester and become a horrible disease."_

"_Wha...?"_

"_The symptoms would vary; some would look like they had Chicken Pox."_

"_Why am I hearing these again? Why are they important!"_

"_Others the Flu."_

"_Who has the Flu?!"_

"_Still others might look like they have very bad allergies."_

_Sabrina froze. She remembered the meeting when Charming had first said these things, and how she had felt uneasy, certain that she was missing something important._

_Charming disappeared._

_Sabrina dropped her sword, her hands clentched. How had she missed it? It had been right there, and she had felt the discomfort of knowing that there was something. It had been right there in front of her. He couldn't hide from them, and there had been no way for him to disguise it…_

…

Sabrina awoke with a gasp. She knew who the Master was.

…

_Told you it was huge! I'll try not to leave you with this cliffhanger for very long, although you all know who it is. OR DO YOU? ;D_

_This is where I would usually shamelessly plug my other story, Sins of the Heartless. Do go read it and review it. It is a Sisters Grimm/Lord of the Rings crossover, but we don't have… like, any LOTR elements. Just one character, and we explain everything. So that is to brush off the people who say they know nothing about LOTR, you can still read it. No one else in the story knows what is going on either, so we, you know, tell them._

_However… My coauthor and I have been doing some serious talking about it. We are not going to give up on this story, it is our child(!), but it is taking us a very long time to write and edit each chapter. So we have been thinking about taking it down until we finish writing it, something that crossed our minds when we first started writing it but were too excited to care about. Yeah. This is mostly directed at **PenguinLoverGurl** (where were you last chapter, darlin'?), who is our one faithful reader and reviewer… for two chapters. What do you want us to do? Leave those two chapters up, or take them down for a year+?_

_I love you all, reviewers or not. It took me forever to get an account and I didn't review anything until I got it, so I know how that works. I know that people are reading this, and I love that more than words can say. Oh, there I go again. I'll wrap this up. Apologies for my exceptionally long A/Ns today!_

_Lurvies!_

_-Archer Princess-_


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N_

_Hallo everyone! I hail thee from the east coast! I am currently sitting in a bedroom on my aunt's farm in upstate New York. I just spent today wandering through farm country and having fun with her (wait for it… wait for it…) 300 chickens! Crazy, I know. But I also eat superbly fresh eggs. And other fresh things too… It is super beautiful up here. I can see so many stars and the sheer magnitude of the crickets…_

_I would just like to thank my FANTABULOUS reviewers! Total, we got a whopping 9 reviews. Not huge compared to the number that some people get (yellow.r0se gets somewhere between 20 and 50, if I remember correctly…), but it is the largest number I have ever gotten._

_I have a question for you guys: should I start doing one of those Question of the Day/Week/Month things that some authors do?_

_I'm gonna get serious now. As you may or may not know, **PenguinLoverGurl**'s father was attacked overseas a couple weeks ago. I had nothing to post, so I was grateful to **yellow.r0se** for giving me a place to let her know she was in my thoughts and prayers. Since then, she sent me an update on his status, and, last I heard, he was doing really well. _

_In other news… I have just realized that this story is about halfway done! Can you believe it? I can't… It seems like yesterday I was trying to come up with a plot so that I could post something, and now I am half done… _

_Sooo… thanks for reading this far! Annnnd… **REVIEW**, por favor y gracias!_

**The Final Battle**

…

A cold sweat covered her body as Sabrina realized exactly what her mind had come up with. Mirror was the Master? Impossible. He just… he just happened to have had allergies at the same time at the Hand received the drug, that's all.

But… was that really all?

She had to find out if it was true. She had to ask him.

_Wait._

She stopped. Daphne. Looking at her sister, Sabrina realized how young and carefree she still was. She looked so small and innocent sleeping…

"_You aren't the one who is in charge all the time. You can rely on your family too._"

Her mother's words echoed in her head. She wasn't alone.

"Daphne?" Sabrina roughly shook her sister.

"_ROAAAHHHRG!"_

Sabrina whirled around. The house started to shake, and she could hear the sound of something pounding on the floor in Mirror's room.

"DAPHNE!" Sabrina shouted, sure that everyone was awake now.

Nothing.

"God, Daphne! Why do you sleep so soundly!" She asked the sleeping girl. "This has _got_ to be louder than a world war…" Sabrina groaned to herself as she pulled Daphne off the bed.

"Wha…? Why are people doing that to m–"

"Daphne, not now! The house is under attack!"

Daphne scrambled to her feet. Sabrina grabbed her hand and dragged her to the door, which she opened so fast that the handle went through the wall. They ran into the hallway, Sabrina looking back at Daphne's sleepy face. Not looking where they were going, they crashed into something solid, falling to the floor.

It was Mr. Canis.

He pulled them back to their feet. "Get Puck and Red, and meet me back here!" He ordered.

Sabrina nodded and the two girls ran to the end of the hall. The opened Puck's door carefully, but he was already standing there, belting his wooden sword to his waist.

"What's going on?!"

"You need to come with me now!"

"This seems like a bad time for that, Grimm." Puck said with a sly grin.

"NOT NOW!" Both Grimm girls said.

He threw his hands up in defense, and followed them. As they walked back to their room, they met a sobbing Red.

"Red, you need to calm down, okay? Now is not the tim– _Puck, what are you doing?_"

"I'm belting your sword to your waist?"

"I can do it."

They heard a shout from upstairs, and Sabrina looked at Puck. Before he could say anything, she said, "Pick up Red, Puck. Come on!" and she lead them up the stairs.

There all the adults, sans Granny, were trying to lead an enormous blue bull back into the mirror.

"Oh my god…" Breathed Sabrina.

"Is that who I think…?"

"That's Babe the Blue Ox. Paul Bunyan's bull."

"Uh oh." Puck said.

"Yeah." Said Sabrina.

"He does _not_ look happy. Must be having a bad day… wrong kind of oats for breakfast or something, because that is an unhappy cow–"

"Not the time, Puck…" Daphne growled.

The bull gave a huge bellow and charged at Veronica, who was standing right in front of the mirror. Sabrina gasped, her hand covering Daphne's mouth so she didn't scream.

At the last minute, Veronica jumped out of the way. Babe charged into the mirror, closely followed by the other adults. The house was suddenly filled with an eerie silence.

"I need to go after them." Sabrina said.

"No! You can't!" Daphne cried.

"That is a stupid idea!" Puck groaned.

"It's necessary!"

"And then what? Are you gonna save the day or get killed?"

Sabrina and Puck glared at each other for a moment. Then Sabrina deflated. "Fine. You're right."

Red was peering into the mirror. "Guys… they aren't in there."

Sabrina stared at the small girl. "What?"

"I can't see them. Or sense them, or whatever it is I do."

Sabrina walked over. She could see through to the hall, but was unsure if it was just an illusion that Mirror was putting on. She took a deep breath, and stepped through.

The hall _was_ completely empty, She couldn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

"Sabrina Grimm, don't you ever do that again!" Daphne shouted as she, Puck, and Red clambered into the mirror after her.

"Sorry, Daphne. I needed to–"

"No 'sorry'! You left me behind again!"

"Well you are here no–"

"Starfish, what's going on? Why is Babe's door open?"

Sabrina whirled around. Mirror, looking perfectly healthy, was standing there. He had a confused expression on his face as he looked at the children, all still in their pajamas.

Sabrina drew her sword. "Don't take another step towards us." She snarled through gritted teeth. 

"SABRINA!" Daphne yelled.

"Wait, Daphne. There is something about him…" Red said, looking at Mirror with an odd expression.

"Ah." Mirror said. "So you figured it out."

"Yes." Sabrina said stonily.

"What is going on?" Daphne asked.

"Oh my god." Red breathed. "You are… this Hall…" She covered her mouth with her hand.

"Yes. It is sad that it is ending this way, but I was greatly affected by the drug. I couldn't hide it from your family."

"What?" Said Daphne, confused.

But Puck suddenly understood. He drew his sword too.

"However, imagine my delight when Charming, getting a massage in his hotel, told Harry and Snow what the cure to the drug was. I was able to concoct it and take it myself. I entrusted the recipe to Nottingham, my new right hand man, with the orders to cure my whole army."

Daphne suddenly understood.

"I was able to send in my most important spy next to get important information for my next attack. Like… where the weapon storage was. I was exceedingly happy as I watched your 'army' start to be defeated. Your witches turned into animals, and the great Robin Hood a horse. And then, when Pinocchio was captured, he was brought directly to me, where I put him right where I could release him to assist me again." He gave them all a demented smile. "And tonight… I at last have the location of the Fort."

Sabrina reeled back in shock. The Fort. They needed to warn someone.

"Nuh uh uh, Starfish. You are coming with me. You all are coming with me."

He waved his hands, and a spark of lightning shot out and around them, looping them to Mirror and forcing them to follow him.

He led them to the trolley. "Get in." he ordered. Her jaw set angrily, Sabrina saw no choice but to obey her former friend

The ride was worse than ever, although nerves kept Sabrina's head clear. Her stomach was already in knots, so that was not affected by the crazy twists and turns.

Once out of the trolley, he led them down to a stretch of wall that had no doors. There he stopped. "Starfish, I will be needing you."

"Stop calling me that."

Mirror looked hurt. He twisted her wrist, making her drop her wooden sword. "Put your hand on this wall."

"Never!"

"Do it of I will have to force you." The loop shrunk so that it no longer contained her. It began to tighten around the other three children. Red gave a shriek as one side touched her arm, giving her a dark burn.

Puck pulled the two girls close to him. "Grimm, this is no time to be stubborn. Our only chance is if you do it!"

Sabrina bit her lip, and touched the wall. 

Her hand seemed to meld with the wall, sending a shock of magic up her arm. She gasped as the pleasant feeling filled her body, clouding her judgment.

All at once it was gone, and she slid her hand off the wall still pulsating with magic. A door had appeared, scarlet handprint right where her hand had been.

"How ironic." Mirror said, his smile back. Stepped inside, pulling a shard of mirror out of his pocket. "Time, Pinocchio." He said.

"What are you going to do?" Sabrina demanded.

Mirror snapped, and the lightning disappeared. "I'm going to give myself a future. I'm giving myself a happy ending."

"How?"

"With this." Said a voice behind them. Pinocchio had appeared. He was holding a small boy with fuzzy red hair.

Mirror took the boy in his arms, and crossed the room behind the secret door. The four children followed.

It was a stone room, empty except for a wooden pedestal. On the pedestal sat an enormous book. Mirror's eyes lit up when he saw the it. "At last!" He sighed. "I finally have my chance." He carefully lifted the cover and turned the first page.

At once, a strong wind started, blowing the pages around. "What?" Mirror shouted, his eyes narrowing from the fast breeze. "This isn't supposed to happen!"

Pinocchio's jaw dropped. "How am I supposed to get–"

"Never mind you, what about me?!" When he let go of the front cover, the strange wind slammed the book shut. He stared at it for a moment, before opening it a second time.

The wind started again.

"No!" Mirror howled. The book slammed shut again. He glared at it, static electricity building up in the air around him as he angrily pulled at his hair. "I _must_ get in!"

He tried opening the book somewhere in the middle, and the same strange thing happened. Screaming with rage, Mirror sent bolts of lightening flashing down towards the book. They could not reach it, however, as a small barrier seemed to be protecting it.

Snarling, Mirror put the small child down. He started to pace in front of the pedestal, his hands clenching and unclenching. "Defense mechanisms…" He muttered to himself. "I just need to get in…" He slowed to a stop, his frown becoming thoughtful. "Perhaps… I can travel through the stories. Then I could reach my destination. Yes, yes… I will have to do it that way." He picked up the boy again. The small child had a dazed expression on his face as he wrapped his arms around Mirror's neck. Mirror opened the book again.

At once the wind started up again, but this time, Mirror wasted no time in putting his hand between the pages. He suddenly began to glow. Brighter, brighter, until Sabrina had to look away.

"Wait!" Pinocchio yelled, vaulting across the room and into Mirror. He too became enveloped in the light.

Finally the light died. Sabrina looked back at the book, now closed. She walked towards it in a trance. Gold lettering on the cover told her it was called 'The Book of Everafter'. Her hand started to open it…

"Sabrina, stop!"

She froze, looking back at Daphne. The smaller girl's face made her step back. Frowning, Sabrina shook her head. She hadn't even noticed that the book had a magic that was pulling her in.

"Sabrina, we need to go find Granny. She might know where Mom and Dad are."

When Sabrina shook her head, Puck grabbed her hand. "You can't go in there yet. We need to learn what it is." He dragged her out of the room.

…

Once out of the room, Sabrina pulled away from Puck. "How are we getting home?"

Puck grimaced. "I hadn't thought of that. I don't think I can carry everyone back."

Sabrina made a face. "Of course you can't carry everyone back. You'll have to leave–"

"I'm not leaving anyone behind."

"Then how are we supposed to get home?"

"I don't know! I haven't thought of anything yet! You aren't any helping at all, either, all you are thinking about is Mirror!"

"Oh, yeah. Blame it on me, why don't you! If it hadn't been for me, we might have thought that Mirror was on our side! He could have kill–"

"The trolley." Red said, interrupting the arguing pair.

"What?" They both said through clenched teeth.

"We can take the trolley." Red said coolly.

"Red, that is brilliant! Who can drive?" Daphne said, her voice dripping with artificial cheeriness.

"I will." Sabrina said, having seen the sudden spark in Puck's eyes.

"You have no idea how to drive, Stupid."

"I drove a taxi to the school, I can get us down to the other end of the Hall." Sabrina stormed, hurt. "Plus, you think you could get us there unhurt?"

Puck paused. "Maybe… Yes, yes I could."

"That's it, I'm driving."

Daphne nodded in agreement, giving Puck a funny look.

The fairy rolled his eyes, but followed Sabrina into the front of the trolley. When she glared at him, he didn't even respond.

Daphne and Red sat right behind them, both looking a little nervous. "Sabrina, you are looking funny… I– oh." Red said, noticing something no one else could see.

Sabrina gripped the wheel. '_Okay… this is simple. Simple. You push the peddle down and it moves forward. You turn the wheel while the peddle is down, you turn… right?_' This couldn't be too much different from driving the taxi downtown.

Right?

She pushed the peddle down the smallest bit. The whole trolley jerked under them. Sabrina snatched her foot and hands back from the vehicle. Once the peddle had gone down, she had felt a pulse of magic.

"Sabrina, are you okay?" Daphne sounded surprised at her sister's reaction.

"Yeah, I…"

"Sabrina, step away from the wheel." Red's voice sounded so commanding to Sabrina that she obeyed quickly. Then she stopped, staring at the smaller girl.

"What the– What just happened?" Puck asked, looking between Red and Sabrina, who's eyes were locked together.

"I… it's magical, Red? How did you know?" Sabrina asked, confused.

"What? Red?" Daphne asked, bewildered.

"Something about your… you just felt different, that's all."

"_What is going on!?_" Puck bellowed.

Sabrina jumped and looked at the fairy. "Didn't you…?"

"I have absolutely no idea what just happened or what is going on."

Red put her face in her hands. "Oh god…"

It was Sabrina's turn to look bewildered. "What? You told me to step back and I did. I'm just confused that you knew."

Red shook her head violently. Daphne and Puck looked at Sabrina in astonishment. "Sabrina… Red didn't say _anything_."

Sabrina's eyes widened. "Wha?"

"Oh god, no…" Red groaned. "I lose one to gain another…" She wiped her eyes angrily.

Shaking herself, Sabrina put her hand on Red's shoulder." Red, it's gonna be okay."

"No it won't! I'm always gonna be cursed, Sabrina!" Red cried.

"This isn't a curse! We just haven't figured out how it works yet." Sabrina climbed back into the trolley, settling herself in the farthest seat from the wheel.

"I can't do it, Sabrina." Red whispered.

"Yes you can." Sabrina said forcefully.

And Red believed her. She climbed into the seat next to the older girl, Daphne following her in.

Puck climbed into the driver's seat, grinning. "Well, I guess the Trickster King will be taking you girls on a ride, then!"

They grimaced as he floored the peddle, and Sabrina felt another pulse of magic, although this one was much smaller. '_No wonder I never felt it. I can easily confuse it with the speed…_'

…

They screeched to a halt at the other end of the hall, right in front of the adults, who were huddled in a tight group.

"CAREFUL!" Nine voices shrieked and bellowed at Puck, who was grinning like a maniac.

"Geez! I had it under control!"

"Sure you did, fairyboy! You are never, and I mean EVER, driving me anywhere again!" Sabrina growled.

"GET OUT OF THE TROLLEY!" Henry roared.

"Why did you drive, Puck!" Granny exclaimed. "I don't want you to drive that ever again! Get Mirror to or Henry or SOMEBODY, just don't drive my granddaughters into danger!"

"I…" Puck glanced at Sabrina. They hadn't even thought about having to tell anyone that they had found out the identity of the Master.

"Granny… We, uhm…"

Veronica looked at her daughters suspiciously. "Where were you guys?"

"We, ah…"

"Uhm…"

Sabrina looked at her feet. "wefoudmadda…"

"I beg your pardon?" Granny asked, leaning closer to her granddaughter.

Sabrina sighed. "We found out who the Master is."

Henry and Veronica swiftly glanced at each other. Granny looked surprised. "Then why didn't you just… Were you kidnapped?" She said, suddenly worried.

"Yes–"

"Forget that you were kidnapped, you got away. Who was the Master?" Henry said, uncharacteristically ignoring his daughters' predicament.

"Mirror." Sabrina whispered.

Henry reeled back in shock and Veronica clasped her hands to her mouth.

Granny looked at Sabrina, expressionless. "Mirror is the Master." She said, simply. Sabrina and Daphne nodded. "Then he is no longer our friend. We must protect ourselves now."

Everyone looked at her in shock. She brushed them off. "Is there anything else we need to know?"

Puck spoke up. "Psycho here can talk in people's minds and Mirror has a little boy."

"What?!" Mr. Canis exclaimed.

But Veronica gasped and covered her face. "No no no no NO!" She moaned, her shoulders beginning to shake.

Henry looked surprised. "Veronica?"

"Henry… I can't… I can't… I have something to tell you."

"What is going on?" Henry was looked just as bewildered as the rest of the family.

"Henry, that baby is our son!"

…

_Hola! Have I left you with another cliffie? My bad ;D… But I am sure you all know what comes next, so it isn't too terrible. As soon as I post this, I am moving right into writing chapter 10! I may not finish it tonight, but I already have some of it done. You shall be receiving the next installment in no time!_

_Sorry I am being stupid about responding to reviews, I'll try to do better from now on. I love it when authors respond to my reviews, so I feel bad that I am not returning the favor. I mean… I try do it everywhere else (long chapters, super long reviews…), I should try to add this to it. I love you guys, and I want you to know it! _

_I would like to take a moment to re-thank my WONDERFUL beta, Vanimalion, who is currently texting me her comments on some of my new edits. They are coming, so have some expensive… well, you know the drill XD_

_Oh, and I cannot say it enough… REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! I think any author knows the power of any review to their story. It send this bubbly feeling throughout me, and I am this jittery, happy person!_

_Remember my question from the top ;D, and have a very happy weekend!_

_Lurvies!_

_-Archer Princess- _


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N_

_Yello, Archie in the house! I'm back, bringing with me another chapter in this crazy story about the Grimms! You miss me? Of course you did ;D_

_In all seriousness, I am very sorry it has been so long… I returned home to a flood of schoolwork etc, so I didn't really have a chance to write this chapter until recently. That and I have been shying away from it because this next part is long and hard to write. But hang in there, I have already started the next chapter and hope to finish it soon (I am sick in bed, so that gives me way too much time to write or do nothing… fingers crossed I get better soon!)_

_To my wonderful reviewers, THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! I totally love you! Anon replies at the bottom…_

_**QotU: If you were to build a portal to Ferryport Landing, where would you put it and why would you go?** Give me good answers… The reviewer with my favorite answer will get the next chapter dedicated to them. Have fun!_

_One last thing…: _REVIEW, **REVIEW,**_** REVIEW!**_

**The Final Battle**

…

The family gaped at her, unsure of how to react to such an exclamation. "Veronica, what are you talking about?" Henry asked, his face showing his deep concern for his wife. "We don't have a son."

"We do – did." She paused, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I was going to tell you, but we got… kidnapped... instead."

"What?"

"That night, the night that Oz drugged us. I told you I had some important news. I was pregnant. But... but I'm not… anymore…" She trailed off, the first tears falling. 

"What are you talking about? How do you know you even had a baby, wouldn't the magic put it on hold?"

Briar shifted uncomfortably. "That's not really how it works…"

Henry looked at her. "It… it's not?" he asked, weakly.

"Nope. Yes, the magic would do strange things to the pregnancy, but… there are more powerfully magical ways to keep the pregnancy going normally."

Jake wrapped his arm around his girlfriend. "There is a plant, Donnoga Root, that is used to have the impossible pregnancy. It is how Miss Muffet and the Spider had their son, how Beauty and the Beast had their daughter."

He exchanged a look with his brother, tilting his head minutely towards Briar.

Henry blinked, and then turned back to his wife. "I... I have a son? No... no, I..." His breathing grew ragged as emotions started to flow fast and free.

Veronica gave a violent shudder. "My baby..." she began to cry in earnest. Henry wrapped his arms around his wife, a tear rolling down his cheek as he tightly closed his eyes.

Granny, like the other members of the family, had been staring at Veronica in shock. But as always, she was the first to recover.

"Well then..." The family jumped and looked at her. "If we work fast, we will save my..." she paused, taking in a breath, "...my grandson."

Veronica took a shaky breath. She glanced at Henry, and something seemed to pass between them. "Basil." She whispered. 

For the first time since Sabrina had met her, Granny was at a loss for words. Her mouth hung slightly open, as if he had been about to speak. Her eyes filled with deep, swirling emotion so strong she looked like she was about to faint.

"My grandson… Basil." She said, quietly. Veronica smiled tearfully. She pulled away from Henry and hugged Granny tightly.

"I'm a big sister…" Daphne said slowly. Red squeezed her hand. "I have a little brother!"

"You don't yet." Sabrina said. "We still have to rescue him from…" She couldn't bring herself to say his name.

"Granny, he went into this book thing. The cover said that it was called The Book of Everafter." Daphne said, turning to her grandmother. "It was magical, and it had a very winy def…" She bit her lip, trying to remember what Mirror had called it. "Defense… mechanism."

"The Book of Everafter?" Granny said, looking alarmed.

"Why would he want that? Dad said that it's just a record of all the fairytales." Henry said, confused. "If you trying to find all the Everafters?"

"It's not just a record of the fairytales." Jake said grimly.

"This is worse than I could have imagined." Granny said, her brow creased.

"What's all the fuss about this book?" Puck asked. "I mean… isn't it just a book?"

"I'm afraid not." Granny replied.

"Then what is it, and why was it so important…?" Sabrina asked, confused.

Granny took a deep breath. "Your Great-Great-Aunt Trixie Grimm was the one that brought the Book to our family. She discovered its existence early on in her life, and was very quick to figure out that it was dangerous and should be in our care. However, it took her over twenty years to track it down and convince the owner to give it up. Her obsession over the book tore her away from her family. She started working with Ms. Lancaster on… something. She was cooped up in her house for almost an entire year, only coming home for dinner. Once they finished the book was closed into a special room in the Hall that could only be opened by a Grimm." She stopped, thinking. "I only know this from what your grandfather told me. Trixie was very careful after the Book was locked up to erase all traces of it. She went through her journals and destroyed all evidence of the book, save what has been passed through word of mouth. I'm afraid that's all I know."

"The Anderson Triplets heard that it was some sort of portal into the fairytales. You enter through the pages–"

"That's what Mirror did!" Daphne exclaimed.

"–and you are in the fairytale." Jake continued. "I heard that you could change things in the story. That's the extent of my knowledge."

Daphne looked worried. "But… that barely tells us _anything_!"

Sabrina closed her eyes. _'So close…'_ she thought.

Henry took several deep breaths. He looked ready to hit something. "Mom, we need to get in there now! There is no telling what the creature is going to try to do!"

"Henry… we can't just charge in there! We know almost nothing about it, and he's dangerous!" Sabrina noted that her grandmother also dropped Mirror's name.

"Then I'll go in alone–"

"Don't you dare, Henry!" Veronica said dangerously. "I'm going in that book to save my son if it is the last thing I do!"

"That's exactly it!" Henry said loudly. "It _could_ be the..." he trailed off, looking at her with a tormented expression. "…the last thing you do." He finished in a whisper.

Veronica's expression softened. "Henry, I'll be fine. Really."

The family was silent for a moment. Then Granny spoke up. "Jake, Briar, Veronica and Henry can go in. The rest of us will wait in the room."

Sabrina bit her lip. She wanted to go in. She needed to go in. But it was dangerous, and her grandmother was not going to let her in.

"Before we go, however, I want to get one of Wilhelm's old journals. He had some stuff on the Book, and even the tiniest amount of information will help.

Jake and Henry glanced at each other and nodded. "Alright mom, get your book. Then we need to get this rescue under way!"

While Mr. Canis and Granny were getting the book, the rest of the adults started planning how they were going to rescue baby Basil. Jake was muttering about wands, while Veronica and Briar were listing different protection amulets that they could use.

Sabrina's mind was wandering towards her brother when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw Pucks face. His green eyes were clouded with worry as he said "You doing okay?"

Sabrina stared at him. It was a very un-Puck-like for him to ask her if she was doing okay. But in light of the current situation, it seemed that he had set aside his immaturity.

"I'm… okay. Not great, but okay." She gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

He sighed.

…

Henry took a deep breath. The ride to the room that held the Book had worked him up, and now he was starting to panic. In the last hour, he had learned that a trusted family friend had stolen the son he never knew he had, and had taken him into this dangerously unknown Book.

So the fact that that he was sweating a little while staring at the simple-looking book was completely understandable.

He could hear Briar murmuring something in Jake's ear. He could hear his mother breathing heavily, nervous that both of her sons were about to plunge into the unknown.

Careful not to look like he was second guessing himself, Henry looked back at the rest of the group. Daphne and Red were tightly holding hands. Granny had a hand resting on Daphne's shoulder, the other pressed against her mouth. Her face was lined with worry. Sabrina was standing in between her grandmother and Puck. The two teens had matching looks of restless worry.

Henry felt a warm hand entwine its fingers between his own. Looking down, he saw that it was Veronica. His eyes trailed their way up her arm to her face. Her eyes were anxious, yet filled with love.

"Let's do this." She whispered.

He smiled weakly and turned back to the Book. The tension in the room grew as he reached out to open the mysterious tome.

He took another deep breath. The last one before he plunged into the mysterious object. Closing his eyes, he opened the book.

Nothing happened.

Veronica frowned. "Wha…? Sabrina, I thought you said that it had a defense mechanism."

"It did! It was blowing around like crazy when it was opened before…"

"Maybe since we are Grimms…?" Jake wondered.

"Never mind why, let's get in before it changes its mind!" Briar exclaimed.

"Put your hand in the book, Dad. All of you touch somehow, and then you put your hand on the pages."

Veronica grabbed Briar, who was already holding Jake's hand, and gave her a worried look. Henry placed his hand onto the open book.

The wind started. The pages fluttered wildly as the group of four adults began to glow brighter and brighter, just as Mirror had.

Sabrina looked away. She saw the light die out, and she heard Granny's choking breath as she held back her emotions. Now all they could do was wait.

She definitely didn't like waiting.

…

_Tick… tock… tick… tock…_

Sabrina was leaning against the wall, staring at Puck's watch. Somehow, she had managed to spend thirty minutes pacing and watching the second hand turn on its endless quest to complete the circle of time.

She looked up to see what the rest of her family was doing. Mr. Canis had produced a chair, and Granny was sitting on it, staring at the book. Red was sitting on the floor next to her, with Daphne's sleeping head in her lap. Red's mouth was twitching, and she seemed to be talking to herself. Mr. Canis was standing completely still on Granny's other side, also watching the book, but he kept glancing down at Red and Granny.

Puck was sitting against the opposite wall next to Sabrina. His eyes were closed, but Sabrina was not fooled into thinking he was asleep as well. He was periodically opening his eyes and glancing at her, then his watch, then closing his eyes again.

Glancing again at Puck's watch, she saw that it was 3:48am. Thirty-three minutes ago, her mother and father had disappeared, and she did not know what was going on inside of that book. Unable to stand it anymore, Sabrina suddenly stood up again. Puck tensed up, his eyes snapping open.

She crossed the room to Granny, who turned her tired eyes to her tall granddaughter. "Liebling?"

"Granny, do you have Wilhelm's journal?" She didn't state her reason for wanting it, nor did Granny question why.

"Right here, Sabrina." Granny handed her a small, velvet bag. Feeling the magical tingle, Sabrina knew it was an enchanted bag. She crossed back to her former seat next to Puck.

"Why do you want that?"

"I can't just sit here doing nothing anymore. I need to being doing something to get my brother back!"

Puck didn't respond. Sabrina opened the bag, and began pulling books out. Apparently Granny had decided to grab all of Wilhelm's journals, just in case. After she pulled the last one out, Sabrina hesitated. The bag's magic had grown on her, and she didn't really want to put it down.

Wincing, Puck took the bag from her. For an instant, Sabrina didn't want to let go. But then she made eye contact with Puck, and she forced herself to unclench her fingers.

Puck glanced across to where Red was staring at them. "I don't like that weird thing she does… it's not cool to have someone force their thoughts into my head."

"Ha…" Sabrina muttered, examining the books she was holding.

There were six, all covered in worn brown leather. Each had "Wilhelm K. Grimm" burned into the front, and the dates on the cover dated from 1805 to 1875.

"Wow… this guy must have been really young when he brought the Everafters over to America…" Sabrina said, mostly to herself.

"Yeah, he was. Only nineteen…" Puck answered.

Sabrina started. She had forgotten that Puck had been on the ship. "Really? I've never heard that before. He didn't look nineteen when he came forward during all those time tears."

Puck shrugged. "No one was very clean then. There were bed bugs and plagues everywhere you turned. It made people look a lot older."

"Oh."

Puck looked at the journals. He frowned, and pulled the latest one from her hands. "Wait… this isn't right."

"What isn't right?"

"This last one goes to 1875. Wilhelm had died by then, I'm almost positive."

"What? Give it to me!" Sabrina snatched the book out of his hands. "Could they have burned the date in wrong? Maybe it is supposed to be 1857…"

"Maybe… but unlikely."

"Granny? When did Wilhelm die?"

The old woman started, and looked over at the two teens. "Uhm… late 1850s, I believe."

"There is something wrong with this journal. It has the wrong date on the cover. Is it possible that the last two numbers were burned on in the wrong order?"

"Wilhelm was very careful about those things, but it is always possible. What's the last date in the journal?"

Sabrina unlatched the cover and gently opened the book. She gasped, staring at what was inside. Puck looked at her with a strange expression. "What?"

She ignored him. "Granny… what happened in 1875 that was important?"

Granny frowned, thinking hard. "I think Trixie and Vesta Grimm were born that year, but I'm sorry Liebling… I'm not sure."

"She was." Sabrina said, her voice shaking a little. She lay the journal out on the floor so that both Puck and Granny could see.

The center of the journal had been cut out, leaving the classic place to hold something. Inside the hole was a worn cotton bag and a folded piece of paper. Sabrina pulled them both out. She opened the bag and pulled out a old, iron key.

Unfolding the paper, she saw that the slanted writing barely covered the first quarter of the paper.

"What does it say?" Puck asked, trying to pull the paper away from her.

Sabrina moved it out of his reach. "'This key is the key to the Editor's Library. To access: Enter Book, insert into air, and unlock door. Door will appear. Please knock first.'" She turned to Granny. "Do you know who or what the Editor is?"

Granny shook her head. "It's obviously part of the Book, but I told you everything I knew when the Book was first mentioned."

Sabrina leapt up. "Granny, I _have_ to go in there and learn how this works!"

"Absolutely not!"

Puck slowly stood up behind Sabrina as she begged her grandmother to let her go in. "Granny, someone needs to go in there and find the Editor! He seems to be the higher power in the book, and he could help us find Mom and Dad, and then Basil!"

"Liebling, no!"

"WHY NOT?" Sabrina yelled. Daphne twitched and rubbed her eyes. She sat up, staring blearily at her sister.

"It's too dangerous!"

"Mom and Dad are in there right now! Who knows what they are facing in that thing!" When Granny shook her head again, Sabrina blew up. "YOU DON'T CARE!"

There was a ringing silence. Sabrina realized she had overstepped.

"Sabrina Grimm. Don't you _ever_ say that I don't care." Granny said quietly. "I care about you and the rest of our family more than anything else in the world."

"Granny, I'm sorry, I–"

"Don't speak. I want you to give me that key and I want you to sit back down in that corner. You are not going to be the hero tonight."

Silently, Sabrina handed her grandmother the key. Granny stared at her pointedly, and she slowly walked back to where she had been and sat back down.

Daphne looked intensely confused. "Granny, what is going on?"

"Your sister found a clue to the Book."

"Really?"

"Yes." She turned to Mr. Canis. "Mr. Canis, will you collect the Merlin Wand and two Invulnerability Stones?"

"…you're going in?" Sabrina asked quietly.

Granny glanced at her. "Yes. You were right when you said that someone needed to go in. It just will not be you."

When Mr. Canis came back, Granny took that wand and one of the stones. "Lieblings, Mr. Canis and I are going into the book. Stay here, we'll be back soon, okay? We are going to stay out of the action."

Sabrina stood up. "Granny… what if you can't come back? What if you get lost?"

Granny pulled Sabrina into a hug. "I won't. I'm a Grimm, and I'm used to it now."

Sabrina let go of her grandmother, and Granny stepped up to the book.

"Good luck…" Red said.

The two adults smiled back at the fours children, and Granny touched the book.

The children turned away, used to the bright light that accompanied an entrance to the Book now. When the light died down, they turned back to see that Granny and Mr. Canis had disappeared. Sabrina slumped back into the chair that Granny had been sitting in.

Puck tugged at her arm. "So what are we taking with us, Grimm?"

"What?"

He looked at her like she had grown another head. "Aren't we going in anyway?"

The three girls started at him. Then Sabrina grinned. Standing up, she said: "Yeah. Come on, let's go!"

Daphne stood up and brushed her hands off. "I need a wand before we go in."

"Granny took the Merlin Wand. What's your second choice?"

Daphne thought hard. "A fairy godmother wand. One that changes physical appearance, not fashion."

Sabrina nodded. "I need a weapon."

"Not Excalibur, Charming has that." Puck said.

"No, I'm thinking Carnwennan. He didn't take that one."

"Car-whosee?" Red asked, confused.

"Carnwennan. It was another of Arthur's weapons, his dagger. Legend says that it shrouds the wielder in shadow, but in my experience it also hides anyone who's touching the user. It turns them into a sort of… human chameleon."

Puck gaped at her. "Alright, I call dibs."

She shook her head. "No can do, it's one of the few magical items I can handle. Find your own."

He glared at Sabrina. He opened his mouth to disagree, but Daphne said, "Never mind that, we need to get going!"

They all ran out of the room.

…

In less than ten minutes, they were back in the Book's room, panting from their run.

"Are you ready?" Sabrina asked.

Daphne and Red nodded their eyes wide in anticipation. They were holding hands tightly. Daphne took one of Sabrina's hands.

"Alright," she breathed, "let's do it." She took hold of Puck's hand.

He glanced down at their entwined fingers. Their eyes met, the bright green searching the deep blue. Sabrina exhaled softly.

Puck turned to the book. He opened it to somewhere in the middle, and then frowned. "Whoa…"

"What?" Sabrina asked, anxious.

"There's… it's not written in English. It's all gibberish."

Sabrina shook her head. "Never mind that, get going!"

He gave her a glare, and then placed his hand in the book.

At once the room grew bright with a white light. Sabrina felt weightless as a strong wind started up. She felt the magic of the Book travel from Puck's hand to hers, and then down her other arm to Daphne's hand. The feel of the magic filled her, erasing all tension and feeling. She couldn't tell whether or not she was still holding onto Daphne and Puck. The light was blinding her, the wind deafening her, and she suddenly was no longer sure where she was.

Unable to see, hear, or feel anything, Sabrina was blasted off into the unknown.

...

_Bwahaha! It seems I leave thee with another cliffy, eh? Anything to keep y'all reading… Seriously, I do a lot. I did so much math and research to make sure all the dates and ages were right…_

_Again, _REVIEW, **REVIEW, **_**REVIEW!**__ I love that I get so many readers, but I do wish that everyone would review… _

_BIG, GARGANTUAN GOOD NEWS: Vanimalion and I have gotten back on track with **Sins of the Heartless**! Guess what? WE JUST UPDATED! Yes, yes… I know, super surprising! But we spent the whole week working hard at it, and Chapter 3 is edited and posted! Click over to read "Chapter 3 – First Encounter"!_

_I love you all, and remember the QotU: **If you were to build a portal to Ferryport Landing, where would you put it and why would you go?** See you all soon!_

_Anon replies:_

_**PenguinLoverGurl** – I'm so glad he is okay! How is he doing now that several months have passed?_

_Like I said in chapter 1, this story is weaving in and out of the actual series, although I am definitely making it my own!_

_Oh gosh, I'm glad you loved that part! It was an impulsive addition…I saw the chance and I took it!_

_I know, right? Puck needs driving lessons…_

_Yeah, it is a mucho cool power! I am having fun with it, but I am not saying anything more…!_

_**karatequeen78** – Thanks you reading! I'm glad you like my story :)_

_Lurvies!_

_-Archer Princess- _


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N_

_Hello everyone! I hope you had a fantastic holiday season, and are enjoying the New Year! I originally wrote out my whole A/N on New Year's Eve… but I had to rewrite it because…_

_I got a nomination for __**eligoat**__'s "Best Sisters Grimm Story of 2012"! I know I probably won't win because there are so many AHMAHZING stories in the SG category, but a nomination is just as good to me :)_

_ANYWAYS, I had a SPLENDID holiday, thank you for asking ;D! Most of my family (14 of us…) got together and ate tons of delicious food, exchanged wonderful gifts, and stayed up too late playing crazy board games!_

_*insert normal apology for not updating sooner, empty promise to fix it...* In all honestly, it did take me a while to get started on this, and I really am planning on doing better! In fact… I promise to have another chapter out by the end of the month._

_THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU for all the wonderful reviews to the last chapter. __**Gifted Shadows**__, saying it was my best chapter made my day ;D Did you guys see that we past __**40 reviews**__? Ohmygoshyay!_

_**QotU: What is a special tradition that you and your family do every winter? **_

_Winner of the last QotU: __**PenguinLoverGurl**__, because she was the only one to answer. And, of course, her answer was good!_

_Anon replies are at the bottom, __**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW**__, and enjoy Chapter 11! _

**The Final Battle**

…

Comfortable.

That was the only word to describe the state Sabrina felt as she lay encased in a silky warmth of an unfamiliar material, the gentle weight of an arm draped across her chest.

Wait.

Someone's arm? 

Sabrina opened her eyes, blinking slowly. Above her was a roof of trees, and beyond that a star-filled sky. She looked in awe at the thousands of bright lights, momentarily distracted from the weight on her chest. There were more visible here than anywhere she had ever seen, as there were no city lights blocking them out. She could see the Milky Way swiped beautifully across the inky darkness of the night sky.

Hearing a small sigh next to her, she jumped. Sitting up groggily, she saw that a tanned arm was awkwardly sprawled across her chest.

Her heart dropped into her stomach. Swallowing hard, she slowly turned her head to see a strange man wearing a loose tunic curled up against her.

Sabrina screamed. The man awoke with a jolt and yelled in alarm. This only made Sabrina scream louder.

Recovering, the man clapped a hand over Sabrina's mouth. "Hush!" He whispered, panicked. "This was not a part of our script!"

Sabrina roughly pushed the hand off of her mouth, and quickly scooted away from the man. "Who _are_ you?!" she demanded.

Looking quickly over his shoulder, the man muttered. "I am Lysander of Athens, and thou," he gestured to her clothes. "hath taken on the part of Hermia, my lover."

Sabrina looked down at what she was wearing. The silky softness that she had been feeling was not a blanket, as she had expected, but a type of dress that she had seen in her history books back when she had been in public schools. If she remembered correctly, it was called a chiton, and was the attire worn by higher-class Greek women.

Slowly, she stood up. Trying hard to keep her voice from trembling, she asked Lysander "What… what's going on? Do you know where I am or how I got here?"

The man shook his head, his dark curls fluttering in a slight breeze. "I know only that we are contained in a prison known as the Book of Everafter. Those that travel hither from the outside world tell tales of my… non-existence." He gave her a sad look. "It hath happened often enough that I seem to have no choice but to accept it as truth. Alas, I know no more than this, as clear memories are devoured by the Reviser beasts."

Sabrina wondered what "reviser beasts" were. For a moment, she felt deeply sorry for this handsome man. But a loud crashing sound through the trees to her left distracted her.

Puck came bursting through a bush with a growl, a thick branch in his hands. He looked all the more alarming as his signature jeans and hoodie had been replaced by a sheepskin toga, stained with life in the forest. He had dust and mud streaked across his face, and there were several stray leaves and twigs in his hair. Lysander seemed to act instinctively, scrambling in front of Sabrina as if to protect her. Seeing this, Puck charged.

He swung his branch at the man. Sabrina tried to run forward to stop Puck, but she tripped on her chiton. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the branch break Lysander's neck. She didn't need to worry, though, as the Athenian caught it and pulled, trying to send Puck off balance. However, Puck merely unfurled his wings and stayed upright.

This sudden reveal of Puck's true being sent Lysander to his knees in shock. "What enchantment is this that I see before my eyes?" He cried, face a picture of terror.

"What are you doing to her, foul Athenian?!" Puck snarled, advancing towards Lysander.

Sabrina finally managed to stand up. She grabbed Puck's arm, forcing the branch down. "Cut it out, Puck! Everything's fine… I think."

Puck turned to her, his eyes still wild. Sabrina frowned. "Seriously… calm down!" When he tried to turn back to Lysander, she slapped him across the face.

"OW!" He hollered, his hand jumping to the place she had hit him. "Why did you do that?"

"You are over-reacting. Nothing happened over here, and you interrupted me learning what was going on!"

"But you were screaming!"

Sabrina winced. "Yes… but I stopped."

Puck chewed on his lip as though he was biting something back. He glanced back at Lysander, who was rocking back and forth muttering. He narrowed his eyes, but dropped the branch.

"Lysander?" Sabrina asked, tentatively. The man didn't answer.

Suddenly there was the sound of feet. Sabrina and Puck looked at each other quickly, and then Puck lifted off the ground. He picked Sabrina up, and they rose into the higher branches of a tree. Shivering, Lysander took one last look at them and took off, running away from them and the footsteps.

They watched silently from the tree as another man sauntered into the clearing with a woman trailing behind him, a look of despair on her face.

The man wore a tunic similar to the one that Lysander had worn, but that was where the similarities ended. While the first Athenian had had a softly shaped face surrounded by dark hair, this man's was sharply chiseled and handsomely framed by long golden locks. The open way that Lysander had worn his tunic was nothing compared to the way that the new man had his draped across his chest.

"I love thee not… therefore pursue me not." He said, dramatically pompous. "Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more."

"You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant." The woman responded. She had tears sparkling in her deep blue eyes as she looked upon the man in front of her. Her hands were frantically twisting a dress similar to Sabrina's. "Leave you your power to draw, and I shall have no power to follow you."

"I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes, and leave thee to the mercy of the wild beasts!" He roared, raising a fist. The woman fell to her knees, cowering away from him and yet unable to scramble back. He paused, glaring at her. "But… I shall do mischief in the wood."

"Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field…" she looked desperately at him, her cheeks flushing. "You do me mischief, Demetrius…"

The man glared at her and she looked down again. He turned on his heel and started off out of the clearing. The woman wiped her eyes, muttering. "I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell… to die upon the hand, I love so well." She followed him out of the clearing, stumbling over a stray root.

Sabrina turned to Puck. "What do we do n–" She stopped, hearing another rustle.

Puck paled. He glanced at Sabrina, his eyes wide with panic. "No…" he whispered, looking around wildly.

And then they heard it. A voice that neither one had heard in over five years. A voice that had last been heard coming from Sabrina's mouth.

"Fare thee well, nymph." Came the voice of Oberon, King of Fairies.

…

What Daphne saw when she opened her eyes was not at all what one would expect to see when waking up after being flung through dimensions.

She sat up, looking around. She was sitting in a warm feather bed in a singe-roomed log cabin. Aside from the bed there was a rocking chair with several hand made quilts hung over the back, a small table, and a wood burning stove. A solitary ax hung on the back of the door to the outside. She was completely alone.

She hopped out of the bed and ran to the open window behind the rocking chair. Outside she saw a lush forest filled with the sounds of birds and other wildlife. The sun was shining through the leaves of the trees, making them glow the brightest of greens. The forest floor was dappled in patches of sunlight.

Suddenly, she heard voices. She quickly ducked under the sill, her heart pounding. She had no idea where she was or where her sister was. Or Puck. Or Red.

She was alone.

"…just look at all the beautiful flowers around us! Why don't you go and take a look?"

It was a familiar voice, although not one that she had ever thought to hear again.

It was the voice of the Wolf.

"Go away! I don't want to do this again! Why? Why am I here?!" Daphne flinched at the panic in Red's voice.

The Wolf growled. "That is not what you said. You are not sticking to the script, and I don't want the Revisers out again!"

"What are Revisers?"

"Revisers come and fix any mistakes that are made in the stories. And if you aren't going to stick to the script, I won't either. And that means I finally get to eat you!" He laughed menacingly.

Red whimpered. "What am I supposed to say?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"'If I take a fresh bouquet to grandmother, she will be very pleased.' And then you pick some flowers. And then I eat your grandmother," more whimpers, "and then… I eat you."

Daphne covered her mouth. Red was actually in danger. As was her grandmother. This wasn't the historical version of Red's story, this was Little Red Cap, the version that the Brothers Grimm recorded. So where did she…?

"Aw, come on…" Daphne muttered, looking down at herself. She was dressed in a nightgown and slippers, and quick pat on her head confirmed that she was indeed wearing a nightcap.

"If I take a fresh bouquet to grandmother, she will be very pleased." Red muttered miserably.

Thinking hard, Daphne's eyes fell on the ax hanging on the back of the door. Quick as a flash, she ran across the room and grabbed the sharp weapon. Her hand on the handle, she suddenly stopped. She needed to help Red, yes. But what use would this ax be against the Wolf?

She shuddered. The Wolf. It had been several years since she had last seen its terrible blue eyes, but the memory of them peering hungrily out of what had just been her sister still haunted her dreams. For her to defeat the Wolf… maybe that would stop the sudden jolts of fear she felt whenever she saw the small, rattling jar.

She pulled the ax down off the back of the door. Steeling herself for her first rash rush into battle, she flung open the door and ran out to face the Wolf.

…

A tall man encircled in darkness appeared in the moonlight at the edge of the clearing. He looked after the woman. "He shall seek thy love." He stated, eerily calm and firm.

Puck fell out of the tree. Sabrina gasped, lunging for his quickly retreating leg. She barely caught his foot and was jerked forward, her arms screaming in pain. As she started to slip down as well, she entwined her legs together, clamping them to brace herself.

The man turned. His eyes widened at the spectacle hanging from the tree. "What is this that I see before mine eyes?" He asked, unable to hide his surprise.

"Father." Puck said through gritted teeth. He unfurled his wings and reoriented himself. Sabrina let go of his leg and swung herself to the ground.

Oberon's eyes narrowed. "Puck… why art thou following this woman? She is the one sending ripples through the fabrics of the magical lines."

Puck looked down, his eyes narrowed. "My lord…" he muttered.

The man strode forward. "Hast thou the flower?"

Puck shook his head. The older fairy's eyes darkened, but Sabrina stepped forward. "Stop! He isn't the Puck you know. Can't you see that doesn't look the same?"

Oberon glared at her. She felt her face tingle under the magical stare, but she didn't flinch. She stared stonily back.

Puck whimpered softly.

The King of Fairies opened his mouth, and then paused. Carefully composed, he said, "Very well. If perchance you are not of this land, then I must presume that you also come from the outerlands."

"Yes. And can I assume that you know something about this Book?"

Oberon's face twitched. He said nothing.

"You _do_ know something!" Sabrina exclaimed.

"I will say nothing."

Sabrina groaned. She looked a Puck, hoping for some support, but he was still standing and looking away from them, his expression ashamed.

Sabrina wracked her brain, trying to remember facts about Oberon's character. She could not remember anything about him from his story, and from when she had met him… he had been anything but polite.

She took a deep breath. "My lord," she began, wincing, "we have met once before, although it did not end well. Since then… well, this is the first time we've seen each other, and I'm getting the impression that you aren't the same one, nor would you… survive in our world."

Puck glanced at her. She gave him a look, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Oberon gave her another searching look, and again her skin tingled uncomfortably. Then he looked away from her. "Very well." He said. "I will tell you what you must do." He paused, contemplating them. After a moment, he pointed off into the trees where Demetrius and his follower had disappeared. "When you complete a story, a door appears. This is your way out. To leave, you need to create an ending for this story. You could do it the written way," he glanced disdainfully at Puck, "or you could do it your own way."

Sabrina sighed in relief. She felt Puck relaxing next to her. They were both very glad that Oberon had not refused them again.

"What do you mean by our own way?"

"If perchance thou will not stay and complete this story as Puck and Hermia, then you must discover another way to complete the story. Give us a different ending."

Sabrina looked carefully at him. Although her stare was not magical as the Fairy King's, it was equally searching. "You have a particular different ending in mind." She said. It wasn't a question, but rather a statement of fact.

Puck flinched as his father's eyes narrowed. "You are wise, lady."

"What is it you want us to do?"

"Thou must change the mind of the oaf, Demetrius. Until then, the lovers Lysander and… Hermia will never have their 'happy ending'."

Sabrina flushed slightly, the knowledge that she was Hermia embarrassing her.

For the first time this during this whole exchange, Puck spoke. "This isn't all you want. You always have exceptions. This won't end the story and you know it."

The darkness swirled around Oberon. He let out his own wings, which looked black in the night. "End the story, and you can leave." He said, and then he disappeared.

…

Carefully, Daphne picked her way through the bushes. The forest had seemed bright and cheerful from the window in the cabin, but it had been replaced by a terrifyingly dark, creepy jungle. The sunlight coming through the trees seemed artificially cheerful as it masked the Wolf's presence.

"Now stay here…" the Wolf growled. "I have a lunch I need to get to, and then…" he laughed heartlessly, "I'll be seeing _you_ again soon."

Hearing him turn and start to run away, Daphne froze. She knew where he was going, and it was straight through where she was standing. Quick as a flash, she pulled herself nimbly into a tree.

And not a moment later, the Wolf in all his terrible glory came rushing straight through the space where she had been standing. Daphne held her breath as he passed, desperately hoping that he would not smell her. Fortunately, the Wolf seemed too caught up in his plan to pay any real attention to his surroundings.

She waited until the forest was silent again. Even the birds had momentarily stopped their songs.

The silence was broken by the slamming of a door. Surprised, Daphne slipped out of the tree, landing on the side of her foot. A stabbing pain shot through her ankle, making her gasp. She toppled over, grabbing a bush to slow her fall.

She examined her ankle through watery eyes. At first, it seemed to look fine. Then she compared its size to her other ankle, and saw that the injured one was starting to swell. She gentle pressed the hurting spot, and winced back.

"Owwwwww…" She moaned.

Then she heard a quiet whimper from close by. She pulled herself to her feet, hissing in pain. She felt a stinging on her right hand. Glancing at it, she saw that she was bleeding from a cut in the palm of her hand. She had sliced herself on the ax when she fell.

The whimper sounded again. "Red?" Daphne called quietly.

The whimper cut out. "Daphne…?" Red's voice quivered. She sounded like she had been crying.

"Red, I'm through the bushes. Follow my voice."

"I can't. The Wolf tied my feet."

"What?" This fact caught Daphne off guard.

"It's not the _real_ version of the story. The one with the North Wind and Mr. Clay. This is the Brother's Grimm version, Little Red Cap. The Wolf is the same… only different. He has… werewolf tendencies. Human-like…"

Daphne groaned. "I hurt my ankle, I'm not sure I can walk…"

She tried putting weight on it. Pain shot through her. She made a high pitched noise. "Nope… yeah, this really hurts!"

"Can you crawl?"

"I have an ax."

"What?!"

"I'm… I'm your grandmother."

Red was silent for a moment. "You are what? Daphne, you're really gonna need to explain this more."

"Sorry… there is something about this book that turns us into the characters from the story we are in. You are yourself, and I'm… your grandmother."

Red giggled quietly. "So the ax…?"

"I got it from the cabin that the Wolf is in right now." She paused for a moment. "Red, I'm gonna try to get over to you."

"Don't hurt yourself! What did you do to your ankle?"

"I slipped out of the tree and landed on the side of my foot."

"And your hand?"

Daphne was quiet. She frowned, thinking back over what she and Red had been talking about.

"You… you did say something about your hand, right?" Red sounded worried.

"I don't think I did." Daphne bit her lip. "Could it be… your power, do you think that you… sensed my injury?"

"I…"

"OUCH! Red, what is the matter with my ankle?"

"I think you sprained it. That's what happens when you land on the side of it unintentionally. Is it swollen?"

"Yes."

"Daphne, we need to brace it. But…"

Daphne cut her off. "I'll crawl over to you and you can come back for the ax."

"Be careful!"

Daphne, careful not to put any weight on her ankle, slowly lowered herself to the ground. She rotated herself to her hands and knees, wincing at the pain leaning on her cut was causing. She started to crawl carefully around the tree. Every few feet, she would hiss in pain as she kneeled on a rock or hit her ankle.

Finally Red came into view. Daphne gasped, partly from the pain of hitting her ankle again, but mostly from the sight in front of her.

Red had diluted the truth a little bit when she had said that the Wolf had bound her legs. The Wolf had tied her legs together, yes, but Red had not said anything about having her hands tied behind her and around a small tree. Nor that there was a small gag lying close to her.

"Red!" Daphne worked her way over to her friend much quicker, ignoring the pain in her knees, hand, and ankle. "Why didn't you _tell_ me it was this bad!"

Red's tearstained face looked a little sheepish. "I didn't want you to worry…?" It came out sounding like a question.

Daphne shook her head. She made it to Red and gave her and the tree she was tied to a rib-cracking hug. "I was so worried! I heard the Wolf threatening you, and I didn't know what to do!" She let go and pulled herself to the other side of the tree to examine the knot tying Red to the tree.

Red shifted uncomfortably. "Daphne, I don't know what is going on here. We are somehow inside the story of Little Red Cap, and I haven't seen Sabrina or Puck at al! Plus now we have the Wolf to deal with. Again."

Daphne paused. "It will be fine, Red… you really should stop working yourself up like that." She examined the knot. "Wow… The Wolf knows how to tie knots! Stop moving, you'll just pull it tighter." 

Red tried hard not to move. "Okay…" She bit her lip. "But Daphne, the Wolf…"

"I have an ax… I think we can defend ourselves."

"He is the _Wolf_, Daphne!"

She stayed silent for a moment, working on the knot. Her fingers were starting to hurt from the rough twine.

"I… Daphne, do you still have the fairy godmother wand you brought in?"

Daphne froze. In all the commotion since they had entered the Book, she had forgotten that she had brought a wand with her.

Abandoning the knot, Daphne started patting herself down, looking for bulges or pockets. "Aha!" She cried. "I _do_ have the wand!"

"Quick, use it to break the knot, and then we can deal with your ankle!"

"It is a physical appearance wand, Red… it wouldn't be any help here."

Red shook her head. "Think outside of the box, Daphne! It doesn't just change the appearance traits of people, it can change the _physical appearance of anything_!"

Daphne gaped at her. "What? Do you really think so?"

Red nodded firmly. "Mirror used to use it all the time…" She trailed off, confused.

Daphne pulled out the wand. "It's okay Red… you are just remembering something again."

She shivered. "It feels like it has been a long time since that happened…"

Daphne nodded vaguely. She was concentrating hard on the knot in front of her. She thought about it loosening so that she could easily untie it. She thought about invisible fingers untying it for her. She imagined the rope unlooping itself from around her best friend.

The wand began to vibrate ever so slightly and the rope around Red began to glow. Then there was a flash, and the rope fell limp onto the ground. Daphne was surprised that the rope around Red's legs also came undone, as she had not been focusing on it at all.

Red stood up, rubbing her wrists. Then, careful of Daphne's ankle, the two girls hugged tightly.

"You know we aren't big enough to stop the Wolf, right?"

Daphne nodded, silent. They stayed in that position for a moment longer, and then the let go of each other.

Red examined Daphne's ankle. "Oh, Daphne… this looks horrible!" She said.

"I know… and it hurts so much!" Daphne whimpered.

"We have to wrap it. I need some scissors…" She fumbled around in a little basket that Daphne hadn't noticed before.

After a minute, Red reemerged with a dainty pair of sewing scissors. She neatly cut off the bottom three inches of her skirt, which gave her something with which to wrap Daphne's ankle. Starting on the top of her foot, Red firmly wrapped around and around the injured ankle. Daphne winced at the pressure, but she knew that it would help the swelling go down.

Red finished by tucking in the end of the cloth. "That's the best I can do for now… we can't even ice it until we get out of the book." She looked up at Daphne, her eyes filled with worry. "We have to deal with…" she trailed off.

Daphne looked down at her hands, clutching the wand. "We have the ax…" She muttered.

Red shook her head. Almost absent mindedly, she cut off another chunk of her skirt and began to wrap Daphne's cut hand.

Suddenly Daphne got an idea. "Red… we can't fight the Wolf by force, we know that."

"Yeah…?"

"We are going to have to outsmart this beast."

"How?" Red asked, still looking unsure.

Daphne twirled the wand between her finders, a small smirk on her face. "Why… with magic, of course!"

…

_I hoped you enjoyed this chapter… I think it turned out much better than I even dreamed it could! So proud, and can't wait to finish Chapter 12! I am HOPING to have it done before January ends, because I'd love to get back on track with my writing!_

_As per usual, PLEASE check out __**"Sins of the Heartless"**__, a Sisters Grimm/Lord of the Rings crossover! I know that you might be turned away if you haven't read Lord of the Rings, but trust me (one of the authors!) when I say that we explain everything from LOTR that you would need to know. It has three VERY long chapters right now, and we are working on the fourth, which will be published by the end of January._

_Remember the question! __** What is a special tradition that you and your family do every winter? **_

_Love you all so much, and HAPPY NEW YEAR from me and my grandmother's kitten Dobby!_

_ANON REPLIES_

_**PenguinLoverGurl**__: Heehee, I loved your poem! I'm so glad you dad is home and well. And you QotU was perfect! I only wish others had answered too… Oh well. _

_**Guest**__: I'm glad you like my story, and I'm sorry that you don't think I'm being creative enough. As I said in my Chapter 1 into, my story is going to weave in and out of what MB already wrote. When I put together my plan for the story, I deemed the Book to be important enough to my plot that I wanted it. Granted, it was one of the stupider things to happen in the series, but I need it. If you want one of my… more original stories, I have two other fics posted on the site, and I have several more waiting until I finish this one._

_-Archer Princess- _


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